Everything about Injunctions totally explained
An
injunction is an
equitable remedy in the form of a
court order, whereby a party is required to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. The party that fails to adhere to the injunction faces civil or criminal penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions for failing to follow the court's order. In some cases, breaches of injunctions are considered serious criminal offenses that merit arrest and possible prison sentences or death.
Basis of injunctions
At the core of injunctive relief is a recognition that monetary damages can't solve all problems. An injunction may be permanent or it may be temporary. A
preliminary injunction, or an interlocutory injunction, is a
provisional remedy granted to restrain activity on a temporary basis until the court can make a final decision after
trial. It is usually necessary to prove the high likelihood of success upon the merits of one's case and a likelihood of irreparable harm in the absence of a preliminary injunction before such an injunction may be granted; otherwise the party may have to wait for trial to obtain a permanent injunction.
Temporary restraints
In the United States, a temporary restraining order (TRO) may be issued for short term. A temporary restraining order usually lasts while a motion for preliminary injunction is being decided, and the court decides whether to
drop the order or to
issue a preliminary injunction.
A temporary restraining order may be granted
ex parte, that is, without informing in advance the party to whom the temporary restraining order is directed. Usually, a party moves ex parte to prevent an adversary from having notice of one's intentions. The order is granted to prevent the adversary from acting to frustrate the purpose of the action, for example, by wasting or hiding
assets (as often occurs in
dissolution of marriage) or disclosing a
trade secret that had been the subject of a
non-disclosure agreement.
Apprehended Violence Order
Sometimes, a court grants an
apprehended violence order (AVO) to a person who fears
violence or harassment from their harasser. A court can issue an apprehended violence order if it believes, on the balance of probabilities, that a person has reasonable grounds to fear personal violence, harassing conduct,
molestation, intimidation, or
stalking. If a
defendant knowingly contravenes a prohibition or restriction specified in the order, he or she can be subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both.
Rationale behind injunctions
This injunctive power to restore the
status quo ante; that is, to make whole again someone whose rights have been violated, is essential to the concept of fairness (equity). For example, money damages would be of scant benefit to a land owner who wished simply to prevent someone from repeatedly
trespassing on his land.
Injunctions in U.S. labor law context
After the
United States government successfully used an injunction to outlaw the
Pullman boycott in
1894 in the case of
In re Debs, employers found that they could obtain
federal court injunctions to ban strikes and organizing activities of all kinds by
unions. These injunctions were often extremely broad; one injunction issued by a federal court in the 1920s effectively barred the
United Mine Workers of America from talking to workers who had signed
yellow dog contracts with their employers.
Unable to limit what they called "government by injunction" in the courts, labor and its allies persuaded the
U.S. Congress in 1932 to pass the
Norris-LaGuardia Act, which imposed so many procedural and substantive limits on the federal courts' power to issue injunctions as to effectively prohibit all federal court injunctions in cases arising out of labor disputes. A number of states followed suit and enacted "Little Norris-LaGuardia Acts" that imposed similar limitations on state courts' powers. The courts have since recognized a limited exception to the Norris-LaGuardia Act's strict limitations in those cases in which a party seeks injunctive relief to enforce the
grievance arbitration provisions of a
collective bargaining agreement.
Common reasons for restraining orders
Further Information
Get more info on 'Injunctions'.
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