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D.D.C. LCvR 65.1

Temporary Restraining Orders and Preliminary Injunctions

activein force · 2026-09-01 – presentact-effective-date

(a) APPLICATIONS FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDERS.

An application for a temporary restraining order shall be made in a motion separate from

the complaint. The application shall be accompanied by a certificate of counsel, or other

proof satisfactory to the Court, stating (1) that actual notice of the time of making the

application, and copies of all pleadings and papers filed in the action to date or to be

presented to the Court at the hearing, have been furnished to the adverse party; or (2) the

efforts made by the applicant to give such notice and furnish such copies. Except in an

emergency, the Court will not consider an ex parte application for a temporary restraining

order.

(b) EMERGENCY APPLICATIONS OUTSIDE BUSINESS HOURS.

If an application for a temporary restraining order is to be made to a judge outside regular

business hours, the party seeking relief shall, if possible, notify the Clerk of such a

forthcoming application during business hours so that proper arrangements can be made

to handle the matter. If notice is not given to the Clerk as provided herein, the party shall

file with its application an affidavit stating why such notice was not given. The Court

may decline to hear an application on an emergency basis if the affidavit fails to state

sufficient reason for failure to give notice as provided herein.

(c) APPLICATIONS FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTIONS.

An application for a preliminary injunction shall be made in a document separate from

the complaint. The application shall be supported by all affidavits on which the plaintiff

intends to rely. The opposition shall be served and filed within seven days after service

of the application for preliminary injunction, and shall be accompanied by all affidavits

on which the defendant intends to rely. Supplemental affidavits either to the application

or the opposition may be filed only with permission of the Court.

(d) HEARINGS ON APPLICATIONS FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION.

On request of the moving party together with a statement of the facts which make

expedition essential, a hearing on an application for preliminary injunction shall be set by

the Court no later than 21 days after its filing, unless the Court earlier decides the motion

on the papers or makes a finding that a later hearing date will not prejudice the parties.

The practice in this jurisdiction is to decide preliminary injunction motions without live

testimony where possible. Accordingly, any party who wishes to offer live testimony or

cross-examine an affiant at the hearing shall so request in writing 72 hours before the

hearing and shall provide the Court and all other parties a list of the witnesses to be

examined and an estimate of the time required. The Court may decline to hear witnesses

at the hearing where the need for live testimony is outweighed by considerations of undue

delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence. If practicable, the

Court shall notify all parties of its ruling on the request to adduce live testimony one

business day before the hearing.

History

COMMENT TO LCvR 65.1: Paragraph (a), is applicable to temporary restraining orders. Paragraph (b) is designed to prevent "judge-shopping" by making application to the Emergency Judge rather than to a judge chosen at random through the Clerk's normal procedures. The Committee believes that a rule is needed to regulate the use of affidavits and live testimony on applications for preliminary injunctions and to entitle the applicant to a prompt hearing where necessary. The grounds for exclusion of live testimony are taken from Rule 403, Federal Rules of Evidence.

Provenance

Source
www.dcd.uscourts.gov
Retrieved
2026-09-18
Edition
fed-district-2026-09-18
Content hash
e7e87b1469aea0cb75dc9afd5627eeac205f7e4994eab219c15d72a7652f9adf
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D.D.C. LCvR 65.1 — Temporary Restraining Orders and P… · binding.law