§ 9-11-65.Injunctions and restraining orders

This section covers two related but distinct provisional remedies. An interlocutory injunction — one issued while a case is pending, before final judgment — cannot issue without notice to the adverse party, and a court may advance and consolidate the merits trial with the injunction hearing, with evidence taken at that hearing carrying over to trial without repetition, all while preserving the parties’ jury-trial rights. A temporary restraining order (TRO) is the narrower, faster tool: it may issue without notice to the other side only if specific facts in an affidavit or verified complaint show immediate and irreparable injury before the adverse party can be heard, and the applicant’s attorney certifies in writing what notice efforts were made and why more notice isn’t required.

A TRO granted without notice is tightly time-limited. It must be endorsed with the date and hour of issuance, filed and entered of record, and it expires by its own terms within whatever period the court sets — not to exceed 30 days — unless the restrained party consents to a longer extension. Once a court grants a TRO without notice, the interlocutory injunction motion has to be set for hearing at the earliest possible time and takes precedence over other matters except older matters of the same kind; if the party who obtained the TRO doesn’t pursue that hearing, the court dissolves the TRO. The restrained party isn’t left without recourse in the meantime — the restrained party may, on two days’ notice to the party who obtained the TRO (or shorter notice the court allows), move to dissolve or modify the order, and the court must hear that motion as quickly as the interests of justice require.

Before issuing a restraining order or interlocutory injunction, the court may require the applicant to post security for costs and damages that a wrongfully enjoined party might incur; a surety on that bond submits to the court’s jurisdiction and can have liability enforced by motion rather than a separate lawsuit. Every injunction and restraining order must be specific in its terms, describe the restrained act or acts in reasonable detail rather than by reference to the complaint, and binds only the parties, their agents and representatives, and others acting in active concert or participation with them who receive notice of the order. None of this applies to divorce, alimony, separate maintenance, or child custody actions, where the court may enter prohibitive or mandatory orders on whatever terms it deems just, with or without notice or bond.