Temporary Restraining Orders and Injunctions: When Your Business Needs the Court to Act Before Trial

By Hank FasthoffJuly 6, 2026

Some business disputes can't wait for trial. A departing employee who's downloading your customer database while packing their desk. A former partner who's soliciting your clients in violation of a noncompete. A vendor who's about to liquidate assets that secure your receivable. A competitor who's using your trade secrets to underbid you on a contract that closes next week. In each of these situations, the harm will be done before a trial date arrives, and money damages after the fact won't undo it. With injunctive relief, you ask the court to intervene now, before the harm becomes irreversible.

Texas provides three stages of injunctive relief, each with its own procedural requirements, evidentiary standards, and duration. Understanding when each stage is available and what the court requires at each stage determines whether your business gets the protection it needs or waits 18 months for a trial that addresses harm that already happened.

Temporary Restraining Orders

A temporary restraining order is emergency relief. It can be granted the same day it's requested, can be granted without notice to the opposing party (ex parte), and takes effect immediately upon signing. A TRO preserves the status quo while the court schedules a hearing on whether longer-term relief is appropriate.

Under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 680, a TRO may be granted without notice to the adverse party only if the applicant shows, through specific facts in a verified petition or affidavit, that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result before notice can be served and a hearing held. "Immediate and irreparable" means the harm is happening now (or is about to happen) and can't be undone with money.

A TRO granted without notice expires within 14 days unless extended by the court for good cause for one additional 14-day period (or longer with the opposing party's consent). Only one extension is permitted unless subsequent extensions are unopposed. When a TRO is granted without notice, the court must schedule the temporary injunction hearing at the earliest possible date, and the hearing takes precedence over all other court business except older injunction cases.

Every TRO must be endorsed with the date and hour of issuance, define the injury and state why it's irreparable, explain why the order was granted without notice (if ex parte), describe the acts being restrained in reasonable detail (not by reference to the complaint or other documents), and include a date certain for the temporary injunction hearing.

Before the TRO issues, the applicant must post a bond under TRCP Rule 684. The bond protects the opposing party if the TRO is later dissolved and the opposing party suffered damages from being wrongfully restrained. The court sets the bond amount, which should approximate the potential damage to the opposing party from being restrained during the TRO period.

There's no right to appeal a TRO. If the opposing party believes the TRO was improperly granted, it can file a motion to dissolve the TRO on two days' notice and request an immediate hearing. The court must hear the motion "as expeditiously as the ends of justice require."

Temporary Injunctions

A temporary injunction is longer-term relief that maintains the status quo during the pendency of the lawsuit. Unlike a TRO, a temporary injunction can be granted only after a hearing with notice to all parties and an opportunity for both sides to present evidence.

To obtain a temporary injunction in Texas, the applicant must demonstrate a probable right to recover on the underlying claim (the applicant's case has enough merit that it's likely to succeed at trial), a probable, imminent, and irreparable injury (the applicant will suffer harm that can't be compensated by money damages if the injunction isn't granted), and no adequate remedy at law (damages at trial won't make the applicant whole). CPRC § 65.011 codifies the statutory grounds for injunctive relief, including situations where the applicant is entitled to relief that requires the restraint of some prejudicial act, where an act relating to pending litigation would violate the applicant's rights and tend to render a judgment ineffective, and where threatened irreparable injury to real or personal property would occur.

A temporary injunction hearing is an evidentiary proceeding. Live testimony is required even if the opposing party doesn't appear. The applicant must present evidence sufficient to support each element. Affidavits alone aren't sufficient at the temporary injunction stage (unlike the TRO stage, where verified allegations or affidavits can support the application).

Bond amounts must be set in the order granting the temporary injunction (TRCP Rule 684). A temporary injunction remains in effect until trial, until it's modified or dissolved by the court, or until the case is otherwise resolved. Every order granting a temporary injunction must also set the case for trial on the merits.

A temporary injunction is immediately appealable. An appeal of a temporary injunction is an accelerated appeal under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 28.1, but the appeal doesn't suspend the injunction unless the appellate court orders otherwise.

Permanent Injunctions

A permanent injunction is granted after trial on the merits (or after a dispositive motion hearing) as part of the final judgment. It's the ultimate equitable remedy, ordering the defendant to do (or stop doing) something permanently.

To obtain a permanent injunction, the applicant must prove its case on the merits and demonstrate that legal remedies (money damages) are inadequate to compensate the harm, that the balance of hardships favors the applicant (the harm to the applicant from denying the injunction outweighs the harm to the defendant from granting it), and that the injunction serves the public interest (or at least doesn't disserve it).

A permanent injunction can incorporate and extend the terms of a temporary injunction, or it can be sought independently without prior temporary relief.

What Constitutes Irreparable Harm

Irreparable harm is the threshold requirement for all injunctive relief. If the harm can be compensated with money damages at trial, injunctive relief is generally unavailable.

In business disputes, courts have found irreparable harm in the following categories. Loss of trade secrets (once a trade secret is disclosed, it can't be made secret again, and no amount of money damages restores the competitive advantage the secret provided). Violation of a noncompete or non-solicitation agreement (the ongoing diversion of customers and relationships erodes goodwill that's difficult to quantify and impossible to reconstruct). Destruction or dissipation of assets (a defendant who's liquidating assets, transferring property, or dissipating funds to avoid a judgment is causing harm that a later judgment can't remedy if there are no assets left to satisfy it). Ongoing infringement of intellectual property (continued use of a trademark, trade dress, or copyrighted work causes cumulative confusion and damage that grows with each day of use). Breach of confidentiality (disclosure of proprietary information to competitors causes competitive harm that's difficult to measure and impossible to reverse).

Mere financial loss, standing alone, isn't irreparable harm. A plaintiff whose only injury is unpaid money owed under a contract generally can't obtain injunctive relief because money damages at trial will make the plaintiff whole.

Practical Aspects

A TRO can be obtained in hours if the facts support it. Preparing a verified petition, supporting affidavit, proposed TRO order, and bond application before contacting the court is essential. Arriving at the courthouse with complete paperwork gets a hearing the same day. Arriving without it produces a delay that may cost the client the emergency relief it needs.

Because the temporary injunction stage requires live testimony and an evidentiary presentation, the quality and organization of the evidence determine the outcome. Witnesses must be prepared, documents must be organized and marked, and the presentation must be focused on the three elements (probable right, probable injury, no adequate remedy). A temporary injunction hearing is a preview of trial, and courts treat it that way.

A party that can't post the bond can't get the injunction. Courts have discretion in setting the bond amount, and a bond that's set too high may effectively deny relief to a party with a meritorious claim. If the opposing party argues for a higher bond, be prepared to present evidence that the bond the court sets is sufficient to protect the opposing party without being punitive to the applicant.

Practical Recommendations

If you need emergency relief, contact your attorney before the harm becomes irreversible. A TRO can be obtained in hours, but the paperwork takes preparation time. An attorney who knows your business, your contracts, and your dispute can prepare a TRO application faster than one who's starting from scratch.

Preserve evidence of the irreparable harm. Screenshots of the departing employee's download activity, copies of the competitor's solicitation emails, records of the asset transfers, and documentation of the trade secret disclosure are the evidence that supports the application. Without evidence of imminent, irreparable harm, the court won't grant the TRO.

Prepare for the temporary injunction hearing from the moment the TRO is granted. The hearing will be scheduled within 14 days, and that's not much time to prepare witness testimony, organize exhibits, and develop the evidentiary presentation. Treat the TRO period as pre-trial preparation, not as a victory lap.

Be prepared to post a bond. Discuss the likely bond amount with your attorney before filing the application, and confirm that the business has the resources to post it. A meritorious application that fails because the applicant can't post the bond produces the same result as no application at all.

Consider whether a cease-and-desist letter before filing would resolve the dispute without court intervention. If the opposing party stops the harmful conduct after receiving a demand letter, the emergency may be over. If the opposing party ignores the letter, the letter becomes evidence of the defendant's knowledge and intent, which strengthens the TRO application.