Washington TROs and preliminary injunctions: 14 days, a bond, and two days to move to dissolve
Washington procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Washington's injunction rule tracks the federal one closely, then diverges on security — where CR 65(c) is stricter than FRCP 65(c) — and closes with a sentence about statutes that is worth reading before you draft anything.
A preliminary injunction always requires notice
CR 65(a)(1) is one sentence:
No preliminary injunction shall be issued without notice to the adverse party.
No exception, no good-cause escape. If you need relief before the other side can be heard, the vehicle is a temporary restraining order, not a preliminary injunction.
CR 65(a)(2) lets the court, before or after the hearing begins, order the trial on the merits advanced and consolidated with the hearing. Even without consolidation, evidence received on the application that would be admissible at trial becomes part of the trial record and need not be repeated. The subsection is to be construed so as to save any right to trial by jury.
That is a real consideration in a contested preliminary-injunction hearing: what you put in is in.
A TRO without notice — two showings
CR 65(b) permits a temporary restraining order without written or oral notice only if:
(1) it clearly appears from specific facts shown by affidavit or by the verified complaint that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to the applicant before the adverse party or his attorney can be heard in opposition, and (2) the applicant's attorney certifies to the court in writing the efforts, if any, which have been made to give the notice and the reasons supporting the applicant's claim that notice should not be required.
Both, not either. The certificate is a distinct document from the affidavit, and it is the applicant's attorney who signs it.
The order itself must then:
- be endorsed with the date and hour of issuance;
- be filed forthwith in the clerk's office and entered of record;
- define the injury and state why it is irreparable and why the order was granted without notice; and
- expire by its terms within such time after entry, not to exceed 14 days, as the court fixes.
The 14 days may be extended "for a like period" for good cause shown, with the reasons entered of record, or for longer if the restrained party consents.
The hearing takes precedence
Where a TRO issues without notice:
the motion for a preliminary injunction shall be set down for hearing at the earliest possible time and takes precedence over all matters except older matters of the same character; and when the motion comes on for hearing the party who obtained the temporary restraining order shall proceed with the application for a preliminary injunction and, if the party does not do so, the court shall dissolve the temporary restraining order.
Getting the TRO obliges you to prosecute the injunction. Failing to proceed is not a delay; it dissolves the order.
Two days' notice to move for dissolution
The restrained party's route out:
On 2 days' notice to the party who obtained the temporary restraining order without notice or on such shorter notice to that party as the court may prescribe, the adverse party may appear and move its dissolution or modification and in that event the court shall proceed to hear and determine such motion as expeditiously as the ends of justice require.
Two days is the floor and the court can shorten it. This is the fastest motion in the Washington civil rules, and the deadline runs on the party seeking relief, not against them.
Security is the default
CR 65(c) is where Washington is stricter than the federal rule:
Except as otherwise provided by statute, no restraining order or preliminary injunction shall issue except upon the giving of security by the applicant, in such sum as the court deems proper, for the payment of such costs and damages as may be incurred or suffered by any party who is found to have been wrongfully enjoined or restrained.
FRCP 65(c) uses "in an amount that the court considers proper" and federal courts routinely set that at zero. The Washington text says no order shall issue except upon the giving of security. The court fixes the sum; the requirement itself is not framed as discretionary.
Who is exempt:
- the United States, or an officer or agency of it;
- an Indian tribe within the State of Washington with a governing body duly recognized by the United States Secretary of the Interior, or an officer or agency of it;
- the State of Washington, municipal corporations and political subdivisions of the state, under RCW 4.92.080.
CR 65.1 governs proceedings against a surety on a bond or undertaking given under the rule.
Plan on posting a bond. Budget for it before you file.
What the order must say
CR 65(d): every order granting an injunction and every restraining order shall
- set forth the reasons for its issuance;
- be specific in terms; and
- describe in reasonable detail, and not by reference to the complaint or other document, the act or acts sought to be restrained.
Drafting an order that says "defendant is enjoined as prayed for in the complaint" fails that requirement outright. The proposed order has to stand alone.
Who is bound: the parties, their officers, agents, servants, employees and attorneys, and those persons in active concert or participation with them who receive actual notice of the order by personal service or otherwise.
The statutes clause
CR 65(e):
These rules are intended to supplement and not to modify any statute prescribing the basis for obtaining injunctive relief. These rules shall prevail over statutes if there are procedural conflicts.
A clean division. The substantive grounds for an injunction come from statute — chapter 7.40 RCW and the various subject-matter statutes. CR 65 supplies procedure and wins where the two collide on procedure.
So the rule tells you how, and something else tells you whether. Do not look for the standard for granting an injunction in CR 65; it isn't there.
How Washington compares
| Washington | Oregon | California | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TRO without notice | yes, on two showings | yes | yes | yes |
| Maximum duration | 14 days | per ORCP 79 | 22 days, extendable to 37 | 14 days |
| Extension | like period, good cause, or consent | per ORCP 79 | on good cause | 14 days, or consent |
| Notice to dissolve | 2 days | per ORCP 79 | 2 days — CCP 527(d)(4) | 2 days |
| Security | required except by statute | per ORCP 82 | required — CCP 529 | amount the court considers proper |
| Preliminary injunction without notice | never | — | never | never |
| Grounds for relief | by statute, not the rule | by statute | CCP 526 | case law |
A short checklist
- Decide which vehicle you need. A preliminary injunction cannot issue without notice; a TRO can.
- For an ex parte TRO, prepare two documents — the affidavit or verified complaint showing immediate and irreparable injury, and the attorney's written certificate about notice efforts.
- Draft the order to comply with CR 65(b) and (d) — date and hour, the injury, why it is irreparable, why no notice, and the restrained acts described in detail rather than by reference.
- Calendar 14 days from entry, and calendar the preliminary-injunction hearing inside it.
- Arrange the bond. CR 65(c) makes security the rule, not the exception.
- If you are restrained, you have a 2-day motion available — you need not wait for the injunction hearing.
- Find your grounds in the statutes. CR 65(e) says the rules supply procedure only.
Where these rules live
- Wash. CR 6 — Time
- Wash. CR 11 — Signing and drafting of pleadings, motions, and legal memoranda; sanctions
- Wash. CR 62 — Stay of proceedings to enforce a judgment
- Wash. CR 65 — Injunctions
- Wash. CR 65.1 — Security; proceedings against sureties
Superior court local rules govern ex parte scheduling, and some counties require a set time of day for TRO presentation. This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice.