Iowa temporary injunctions: the petition has to disclose who already said no

Iowa procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026

Iowa has no temporary restraining order. It has a temporary injunction, and two provisions that between them make judge-shopping close to impossible: a refusal goes on the paper, and the next petition has to say so.

A refusal is endorsed on the petition

Rule 1.1503 is one sentence:

A court, or justice of the supreme court, refusing a temporary injunction shall endorse the refusal on the petition therefor.

The refusal does not vanish into a docket entry. It is written on the petition itself, which travels with the case.

And the next petition has to disclose it

Rule 1.1504 completes the pair:

A petition seeking a temporary injunction shall state, or the attorney shall certify thereon, whether a petition for the same relief, or part thereof, has been previously presented to and refused by any court or justice, and if so, by whom and when.

Three things are required: whether, by whom, and when. The duty extends to a petition for "part thereof," so trimming the relief sought does not make it a new application.

Note who has to speak. The petition may state it, or the attorney may certify it on the petition — but one of the two has to. Silence is not a permitted answer.

Together these are an affirmative disclosure duty of a kind few states impose. A lawyer whose first application failed is not merely discouraged from trying elsewhere; the second petition has to name the judge who refused the first and the date.

Who can grant one

Rule 1.1506 gives two options:

A temporary injunction may be granted by any of the following: (1) A judge of the district in which the action is or will be pending. (2) The supreme court or a justice thereof.

A justice of the supreme court can grant a temporary injunction directly — which is why Rule 1.1503 speaks of a justice refusing one, and why Rule 1.1504's disclosure duty reaches "any court or justice."

Venue is fixed at the front end by Rule 1.1505: "A request for a temporary injunction shall be filed in the county where the action is, or will be, pending."

When a hearing is not optional

Rule 1.1507 leaves notice to the court's discretion in the ordinary case — the court "may require reasonable notice of the time and place of hearing therefor to be given the party to be enjoined" — and requires the applicant's attorney to certify the efforts made to give notice or the reasons why it should not be required.

Then it lists the cases where discretion runs out:

Such notice and hearing must be had for a temporary injunction or stay of agency action pursuant to Iowa Code section 17A.19(5), to stop the general and ordinary business of a corporation, or action of an agency of the state of Iowa, or the operations of a railway or of a municipal corporation, or the erection of a building or other work, or the board of supervisors of a county, or to restrain a nuisance.

Seven categories, and the common thread is that each would shut down an ongoing enterprise or a public body. No ex parte order in any of them.

The list is worth reading against your own facts before drafting. "The erection of a building or other work" covers a great many construction disputes; "the general and ordinary business of a corporation" covers a great many commercial ones.

The bond is a formula, not a discretion

Rule 1.1508:

The order directing a temporary injunction must require that before the writ issues, a bond be filed, with a penalty to be specified in the order, which shall be 125 percent of the probable liability to be incurred.

Most states leave the amount to what the court "deems proper." Iowa sets a multiplier: 125 percent of the probable liability to be incurred, with sureties approved by the clerk, conditioned to pay all damages adjudged against the petitioner by reason of the injunction.

That turns the bond hearing into an argument about a number rather than about a range. An applicant should come with a figure and a basis for it; a respondent should come with its own.

The exception is family law:

But in actions for dissolution of marriage, separate maintenance, annulment of marriage, or domestic abuse, the court in its discretion may waive any bond, or fix its penalty in any amount deemed just and reasonable.

Ten days to be heard on dissolution

Rule 1.1509:

A party against whom a temporary injunction is issued without notice may, at any time, move the court where the action is pending to dissolve, vacate or modify it. Such motion shall be submitted to that court. A hearing shall be held within ten days after the filing of the motion.

"At any time" — there is no window to miss. And the hearing is guaranteed within ten days of filing, which places the scheduling burden on the court rather than on the party trying to get out from under the order.

Note the limit: this route belongs to a party enjoined without notice. Where notice was given and a hearing held, the order is challenged by the ordinary routes.

Enjoining another case, and where that has to be filed

Rule 1.1510 fixes the forum for the awkward case where the thing to be stopped is itself a lawsuit:

An action seeking to enjoin proceedings in a civil action, or on a judgment or final order, must be brought in the county and court where such proceedings are pending or such judgment or order was obtained, unless that be the supreme court, in which case the action must be brought in the court from which appeal was taken.

The court that made the order is the court that hears the application to stop it. And the bond in such an action "must be further conditioned to pay or comply with such judgment or order, or to pay any judgment that may be recovered against the petitioner on the claim enjoined" — a second condition beyond the ordinary damages undertaking.

Independent or auxiliary, and always with damages available

Rule 1.1501 frames the remedy broadly:

An injunction may be obtained as an independent remedy by an action in equity, or as an auxiliary remedy in any action. In either case, the party applying therefor may claim damages or other relief in the same action.

So an injunction is not a separate proceeding to be filed alongside a damages case. It can be sought inside one, with the damages claim intact. The rule adds that an injunction "may be granted as part of the judgment; or may be granted by order at any prior stage of the proceedings, and is then known as a temporary injunction" — which is where the state's terminology comes from.

Enforcement is short and absolute. Rule 1.1511: "Violation of any provision of any temporary or permanent injunction shall constitute contempt and be punished accordingly."

A short checklist

If you are applying:

Disclose any prior refusal — by whom and when — in the petition or by certification on it.
File in the county where the action is or will be pending.
Check the seven categories in Rule 1.1507. If yours is one, notice and a hearing are mandatory.
Come to court with a bond figure at 125 percent of probable liability, and a basis for it.
Certify your efforts to give notice, or the reasons notice should not be required.
Remember you can claim damages in the same action; no separate suit is needed.

If you are enjoined:

Move to dissolve at any time if the order was issued without notice — and expect a hearing inside ten days.
Test the bond arithmetic. The rule fixes a percentage, so the dispute is about the underlying figure.
Ask whether a prior refusal was disclosed. Rule 1.1504 makes that a pleading requirement.
Check whether the relief sought falls in a mandatory-hearing category — an ex parte order in one of those is contrary to the rule.

Where these rules live

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and the agency-action stay provisions of Iowa Code chapter 17A are not carried on this site.

How this guide is sourced. Every procedural statement here is drawn from the text of the rules named above, each of which is reproduced verbatim on its own page on this site. Quoted rule language appears in quotation marks or block quotes; everything else is original writing. Last verified August 17, 2026.

This page explains what the rules say. It is legal information, not legal advice, and it cannot tell you how a rule applies to your situation. Deadlines are often short and some are not extendable — if the outcome matters, talk to a lawyer or your court’s self-help center.