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Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order

The court orders that require a party to do or stop doing something rather than pay money - the three stages (temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, permanent injunction), the four-factor test for emergency relief, the bond the applicant must post, how an order is enforced through contempt, and why a violated order is obeyed first and challenged second.

Informational only - this is not legal advice. These definitions explain general legal vocabulary in plain English. They are not advice about your situation, reading them creates no attorney-client relationship, and the law differs from state to state and changes over time. For advice you can rely on, speak to a lawyer licensed in your state.

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What it means

An injunction is a court order directing a person to do a specified act or, far more often, to refrain from one: to stop selling a product, using a trade secret, cutting down the trees, transferring the money, or contacting the plaintiff. It is an equitable remedy, available only where money damages would not adequately compensate the harm, and it comes in three stages that track the life of a case. A temporary restraining order is emergency relief granted for a short period to preserve the status quo until a hearing can be held, and in a true emergency it can issue without notice to the other side if the applicant shows specific facts of immediate and irreparable injury and certifies what efforts were made to give notice. A preliminary injunction is granted after notice and a hearing and lasts until the case is decided. A permanent injunction is part of the final judgment after the plaintiff has actually won.

The test for the first two stages is the same four-part inquiry. The applicant must show a likelihood of success on the merits; that irreparable harm - harm that cannot be undone by a later award of money - is likely without the order; that the balance of hardships between the parties favors relief; and that the public interest is not disserved. Courts weigh the factors rather than ticking boxes, but likelihood of success and irreparable harm are indispensable, and a delay in seeking relief undercuts the claim of urgency. Because a preliminary order is granted on an incomplete record and may turn out to have been wrong, the applicant must ordinarily post security - a bond in an amount the court sets - to pay the damages the restrained party suffers if the injunction is later found to have been wrongly issued; the bond amount often caps that recovery. The order must state its reasons, its terms specifically, and the acts restrained in reasonable detail, and it binds the parties, their officers and agents, and anyone who acts in concert with them and has actual notice.

An injunction is enforced by contempt: a party who disobeys can be fined, ordered to pay the other side's losses and fees, or in a civil contempt jailed until they comply, and the order must be obeyed while it stands even if the party believes it is wrong - the remedy for a bad order is a motion to modify or dissolve it, or an appeal, not self-help. Orders granting or denying a preliminary injunction are among the few interlocutory rulings that can be appealed at once, and a party can ask the trial court or the appellate court to stay the order pending appeal. A permanent injunction is also subject to later modification when the facts or the law have changed. Restraining orders in domestic-violence and harassment cases are a distinct statutory species with their own summary procedure, and orders freezing assets before judgment are available only within limits the law of each jurisdiction sets.

Where this comes from

In federal court the rule is Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65: temporary restraining orders at 65(b), preliminary injunctions at 65(a), security at 65(c), the contents and scope of the order at 65(d); the four-factor test is Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7 (2008), and the requirement that a permanent injunction be justified by the same equitable showing is eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388 (2006). Interlocutory appeal is 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1), and the duty to obey an order until it is set aside is Walker v. City of Birmingham, 388 U.S. 307 (1967). The limit on pre-judgment asset freezes in aid of a money claim is Grupo Mexicano de Desarrollo, S.A. v. Alliance Bond Fund, Inc., 527 U.S. 308 (1999). Modification of a consent decree or injunction on changed circumstances is Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail, 502 U.S. 367 (1992). State practice follows each state's rules of civil procedure and equity statutes; the duration of a temporary restraining order and the bond rules are fixed by those rules and are not stated here.

When people hire a lawyer for this

Emergency relief is the situation in which having a lawyer already matters most, because a temporary restraining order can be sought and granted within a day and the papers - a verified complaint, declarations proving irreparable harm, a proposed order, a bond - have to be right the first time. A person served with a restraining order or injunction must comply immediately and should get counsel to move to dissolve or modify it and to be heard at the preliminary-injunction hearing, which is often the moment the whole case is effectively decided. Businesses that rely on non-compete, non-disclosure or exclusivity agreements should understand that their value lies almost entirely in the ability to enforce them by injunction, and should plan the proof of irreparable harm before there is a breach.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

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Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

AppealThe review of a trial court's decision by a higher court - what can be appealed and when (the final-judgment rule and its exceptions), the notice of appeal and why missing it is fatal, what "standard of review" means and why most appeals are lost on it, preserving error at trial, the record and briefs, and what an appellate court can and cannot do with the result.
Attorney-Client Privilege and Work ProductThe two protections that keep what a client tells a lawyer, and what a lawyer prepares for a case, from being forced into evidence - what the privilege covers and what it does not, who holds it and how it is waived, the crime-fraud exception, the separate and narrower work-product doctrine, and how each is asserted in discovery.
Burden of Proof (Standards of Proof)Who has to prove what, and how convincingly, before a court will rule for them - the difference between the burden of production and the burden of persuasion, the three standards (preponderance of the evidence, clear and convincing evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt) and where each applies, presumptions that shift the burden, and why the burden decides cases where the evidence is in balance.
Complaint and Answer (Pleadings)The documents that start a civil case and frame what it is about - what a complaint must contain, how a defendant answers it, what an admission, denial and affirmative defense each do, counterclaims and cross-claims, and what happens when a pleading is late, deficient or needs to be amended.
Contempt of CourtThe court's power to punish disobedience of its own orders - the mechanism that makes a court order more than a piece of paper.
Court Fee Waiver (In Forma Pauperis)How a person who cannot afford court filing fees asks the court to excuse them - the federal and state procedures, who usually qualifies, and what a waiver does not cover.
Default JudgmentA judgment entered because the person sued did not respond in time - the way most consumer debt lawsuits actually end.
DepositionSworn, recorded, out-of-court questioning of a witness by the opposing lawyer, before any trial.
DiscoveryThe pre-trial process in which each side must hand over relevant evidence to the other.
Expert Witness (Daubert and Frye)A witness allowed to give opinions rather than only facts because of specialized knowledge - who qualifies, the gatekeeping test a judge applies to the reliability of the method (Daubert in federal court and most states, Frye in the rest), the written report and deposition that precede trial, the difference between a retained expert and a treating professional, and why a case can be lost when its expert is excluded.
Fee Agreement and RetainerThe engagement letter that sets what a lawyer will do and how they are paid - hourly, flat or contingent fees, retainers held in trust, costs, and what to do about a fee dispute.
Jurisdiction and VenueThe three questions every lawsuit has to answer before its merits can be heard - whether the court has power over this kind of case (subject-matter jurisdiction), power over this defendant (personal jurisdiction), and whether this is the right place within the system to bring it (venue) - what each requires, how each is challenged, and why a judgment entered without jurisdiction is void.
Limited-Scope Representation (Unbundled Legal Services)Hiring a lawyer for one defined part of a legal matter - advice, drafting a document, or a single hearing - instead of the whole case, and the written agreement that sets the boundary.
Mediation and ArbitrationTwo ways of resolving a dispute outside a trial that are constantly confused - one produces an agreement you can walk away from, the other a decision you generally cannot appeal.
Motion to DismissA request to end a case at the outset on the basis that, even if everything alleged is true, it does not amount to a legal claim.
Pro Bono Legal HelpFree legal work by volunteer lawyers - what the professional rules ask of lawyers, how people of limited means are matched with a volunteer, and why it is not the same as legal aid.
Release and Settlement AgreementThe document that ends a claim by giving up the right to bring it - normally final, and normally broader than people expect.
Representing Yourself (Pro Se)The right to conduct your own case without a lawyer - available in almost every civil court, and held to almost the same standards as a lawyer.
Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel (Preclusion)The rules that stop a dispute from being litigated twice - claim preclusion, which bars a second suit on a claim that was or could have been decided, and issue preclusion, which bars re-arguing a specific issue actually decided, the elements of each, who is bound, the exceptions, and why "could have been raised" is the part that surprises people.
Service of ProcessThe formal delivery of court papers that gives a court power over the person sued - and the step whose failure undoes more judgments than any other.
Small Claims CourtA simplified court for lower-value disputes, designed to be used without a lawyer - and in some states lawyers are not allowed in it at all.
Statute of LimitationsA deadline, set by statute, after which a legal claim can no longer be brought at all.
SubpoenaA court-backed order to give evidence or hand over documents - enforceable against people who are not parties to the case at all.
Summary JudgmentA ruling that decides a case, or part of one, without a trial because the essential facts are not genuinely in dispute.

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Part of the LawyerLand plain-English legal glossary. Definitions are written from primary sources - statutes and court rules - and each entry states the authority it rests on, or says plainly when the doctrine is state law with no national rule.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, civil legal aid programs provide free help with many of these problems: civil legal aid programs by state.

Related free reference tools: statute of limitations for a personal-injury claim, by state, quoted from each state's official text - part of LawyerLand's legal reference tools.