Injunctive Relief In California - Beverly Hills Law Corp

An injunction is a legal remedy which orders a person to do something or stop doing something. It is a difficult burden to overcome and requires certain factors to be met before it can be awarded. An injunction can be granted, subject to conditions imposed by applicable statutes, on a showing of the following:

An inadequate remedy at law, meaning that compensation would be insufficient.
A serious risk of irreparable harm absent injunctive relief.
A likelihood that the plaintiff will prevail on the merits of the underlying controversy.
A comparison of the harm to defendant in issuing an injunction versus the harm to plaintiff in withholding it, which on balance favors the plaintiff.

There are three main types of injunctive relief and each is governed by specific Code sections. They include:

Temporary restraining order, also known as a TRO [Code Civ. Proc. ??527, 528].
Preliminary [Code Civ. Proc. ?527] or provisional [Civ. Code ?3420] injunction.
Permanent or final injunction [Civ. Code ??3420, 3422].

Each of these Code sections contains highly technical language and it is recommended you have the services of a qualified civil litigation attorney to help you parse this language. The Civil Code and Code of Civil Procedure also outlines various instances in which injunctive relief is appropriate. An injunction is authorized [Code Civ. Proc. ?526(a)]:

When it appears by the complaint that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief demanded, and any part of the relief consists in restraining the commission or continuance of the act complained of;
when it appears by the complaint or affidavits that the commission or continuance of some act during the litigation would produce waste or great or irreparable injury to a party to the action;
when it appears during the litigation that a party to the action is doing, or threatens, or is about to do, or is procuring or suffering to be done, some act in violation of the rights of another party to the action respecting the subject of the action, and tending to render the judgment ineffectual; or
on any of the four grounds provided in Civ. Code ?3422;
on any of the four grounds provided in Civ. Code ?3422.

In certain cases, a specific situation may apply to you and allow you to obtain injunctive relief, such as:

To prevent harassment [Code Civ. Proc. ?527.6, CRC 363] or domestic violence [Civ. Code ??4359, 5102, Code Civ. Proc. ??540?553, CRC 1225];
to preserve peace and property during marital dissolution proceedings [Civ. Code ?4359];
to preserve peace during Uniform Parentage Act proceedings [Civ. Code ?7020];
to restrain expenditure or waste of public funds or property [Code Civ. Proc. ?526a];
to enjoin concerted acts of violence [Code Civ. Proc. ?527.7], or to prohibit unlawful violence or threats of violence in the workplace [Code Civ. Proc. ?527.8];
to restrain fraudulent conveyances [Civ. Code ?3439.07];
to prohibit false advertising [Bus. & Prof. Code ??17531.9, 17535];
to abate a nuisance [see, for example, Code Civ. Proc. ?731(nuisance), Health & Saf. Code ??100170 (public health), 116670 (drinking water), Wat. Code ?13304(pollution)];
to enjoin waste pending foreclosure [Code Civ. Proc. ?745];
to prevent the use of a misleading corporate name [Corp. Code ?201];
in the context of the breach of a marketing contract [Corp. Code ?13354];
to enjoin health and safety violations [Health & Saf. Code ??1291 (unlicensed health facility), 116670(drinking water), 5460 (sewage disposal), 114735 (radioactive waste)];
in the context of labor disputes [Lab. Code ??1116(jurisdictional strikes), 1126 (enforcement of collective bargaining agreement)];
to suspend the powers of the executor of a prior will [Prob. Code ?9614];
to prevent wasteful production of natural gas [Pub. Res. Code ?3314];
in the context of water rights [see Code Civ. Proc. ?534(actions to enjoin diversion), Wat. Code ??1052 (unlawful diversion), 1845(enforcement of cease and desist order), 2020 (restrain pumping of underground water), 4160(correcting distribution by watermaster), 13304 (pollution or nuisance)];
to prevent unfair competition [Bus. & Prof. Code ??17200 et seq.];
to stay criminal conduct which is a public nuisance [Civ. Code ??3369, 3480];
to prevent the removal of public officers [Gov. Code ?1366];
to prevent breach of a statutorily specified contract that is not otherwise specifically enforceable [Code Civ. Proc. ?526(b)(5)].

As you can see, injunctive relief is a very powerful tool. But, it is also rife with technicalities and must be carefully navigated with an experienced civil litigation attorney in order to have a chance of prevailing on case merits. Contact us at Beverly Hills Law Corp., PC now for further assistance. We have broad experience with injunctive relief in business, real estate, and general civil matters. Your consultation is free.

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