Injunction





An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that
prohibits ("enjoins" or "restrains") a party from continuing to do an
illegal activity. At the very core of injunctive relief is a recognition
that money damages can't solve every problem. An injunction may be permanent
or it may be temporary. A temporary injunction (or preliminary 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. In United States law, a
temporary restraining order (or TRO) may be issued on a short-term basis
until the court decides whether to issue a preliminary injunction. Thus, the
relationship between a TRO and a preliminary injunction is the same as the
relationship between a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction. In
some cases a TRO may be granted ex parte, i.e. without informing the party
to whom the TRO is directed in advance. Usually such ex parte orders are of
a short term and are to prevent one's adversary from having notice of one's
intentions. Such notice may allow the eventual object of the application for
an injunction from doing something that would make the court's granting of
an injunction fruitless, such as wasting or hiding assets as often occurs in
dissolution of marriage or in the disclosing of a trade secret that had been
the subject of a non-disclosure agreement.

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. The ability of the landowner to use the courts to
sue the trespasser for injunctive relief is often the only practical way to
end the trespass (the government may or may not bring criminal trespass
charges at the landowner's urging; the civil power is in the landowner's own
hands). Once the order is secured, the trespasser violates it at his own
peril, risking fines and imprisonment for contempt of court.

Courts may also issue mandatory injunctions, i.e. injunctions to compel a
person to do a specific act.