Rule 1.1507.Notice

Rule 1.1507 addresses one of the most sensitive features of injunction practice: whether the party who will be restrained gets advance notice and a chance to be heard before the order takes effect. As a general matter, the rule leaves the choice to the court's discretion — the court may require reasonable notice of the time and place of the hearing to the party to be enjoined.

When an applicant instead asks for a temporary injunction without notice, the rule does not let that request go unexamined. The applicant's attorney must certify to the court, in writing, either the specific efforts made to notify the adverse party or that party's attorney, or the reasons supporting the claim that notice should not be required at all. That certification requirement puts the burden on the party seeking an ex parte order to justify skipping notice, rather than letting silence on the point go unquestioned.

For a defined list of situations, the rule removes that discretion entirely and requires both notice and a hearing: a temporary injunction or stay of agency action under Iowa Code section 17A.19(5); an order to stop the general and ordinary business of a corporation or an action of a state agency; an order affecting the operations of a railway or a municipal corporation; an order halting the erection of a building or other work; an order affecting a county board of supervisors; and an order restraining a nuisance. In each of these, the rule treats the interests at stake as too significant to resolve without giving the other side a chance to respond first.