[NOT FOR PUBLICATION NOT TO BE CITED AS PRECEDENT]

United States Court of Appeals

For the First Circuit

No. 00-1247

SOUTHEX EXHIBITIONS, INC.,

Plaintiff, Appellant,

v.

RHODE ISLAND BUILDERS ASSOCIATION, INC.,

Defendant, Appellee.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND

[Hon. Ernest C. Torres, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Boudin, Stahl and Lynch, Circuit Judges.

Leland P. Schermer, Gregg D. Orsag and Sweeney Metz Fox McGrann & Schermer, L.L.C. on brief for appellant.

James M. Sloan, III and Gardner, Sawyer, Gates & Sloan on brief for appellee.

March 2, 2000 Per Curiam. Southex Exhibitions, Inc. ("Southex") appeals from the denial of a preliminary injunction, and it has requested an expedited decision. Neither party has requested oral argument, and we have concluded that it is not necessary.

See 1st Cir. Loc. R. 34(b). We affirm.

Although it bore the burden to do so, Southex makes no developed argument in its brief on irreparable harm.

Rather, it addresses the issue in a single sentence and brief footnote without developed argumentation or citation to the record. We have repeatedly stated that it is not enough merely to mention a possible argument in the most skeletal way, leaving the court to do counsel's work. See, e.g., United States v. Zannino, 895 F.2d 1, 17 (1st Cir. 1990). The needed showing of irreparable harm has not been made.

As to likelihood of success, there may well be legitimate arguments on both sides, but nothing we have seen decisively weights the case in Southex's favor. That is enough to justify denial of a preliminary injunction, at least in the absence of overwhelming equities in support of an injunction.

The district court referred briefly to harm on both sides without discussing whether it would be irreparable; and as we have already noted, Southex has made little effort to persuade us on this issue.

Affirmed.