(a) Temporary Restraining Order; Notice; Hearing; Duration. A temporary restraining order may be granted without written or oral notice to the adverse party or that party’s attorney only if (1) it clearly appears from specific facts shown by affidavit or by the verified complaint that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to the applicant before the adverse party or that party’s attorney can be heard in opposition, and (2) the applicant’s attorney certifies to the court in writing the efforts, if any, which have been made to give the notice and the reasons supporting the claim that notice should not be required. The verification of such affidavit or verified complaint shall be upon the affiant’s own knowledge, information or belief; and, so far as upon information and belief, shall state that the affiant believes this information to be true. Every temporary restraining order granted without notice shall be endorsed with the date and hour of issuance; shall be filed forthwith and entered of record; shall define the injury and state why it is irreparable and why the order was granted without notice; and shall expire by its terms within such time after entry as the court fixes, unless within the time so fixed the order, for good cause shown, is extended or unless the party against whom the order is directed consents that it may be extended for a longer period. The reasons for the extension shall be entered of record. In case a temporary restraining order is granted without notice, the motion for a preliminary injunction shall be set down for hearing at the earliest possible time and takes precedence of all matters except older matters of the same character; and when the motion comes on for hearing the party who obtained the temporary restraining order shall proceed with the application for a preliminary injunction and, if the party does not do so, the court shall dissolve the temporary restraining order. On 2 days’ notice to the party who obtained the temporary restraining order without notice or on such shorter notice to that party as the court may prescribe, the adverse party may appear and move its dissolution or modification and in that event the court shall proceed to hear and determine such motion as expeditiously as the ends of justice require.
Rule 65.Injunctions
Last amended November 1, 2023 · Last verified July 8, 2026
In one sentenceRule 65 sets the strict notice, evidence, and bond requirements for temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions — including the narrow circumstances that let a court issue a TRO without notice — and requires every injunction to spell out its reasons and describe the restrained conduct in specific terms rather than by reference to other documents.
Full Text of Rule 65
(b) Preliminary Injunction.
(1) Notice. No preliminary injunction shall be issued without notice to the adverse party. The application for preliminary injunction may be included in the complaint or may be made by motion.
(2) Consolidation of Hearing With Trial on Merits. Before or after the commencement of the hearing of an application for a preliminary injunction, the court may order the trial of the action on the merits to be advanced and consolidated with the hearing of the application. Even when this consolidation is not ordered, any evidence received upon an application for a preliminary injunction which would be admissible upon the trial on the merits becomes part of the record on the trial and need not be repeated upon the trial. This subdivision (b)(2) shall be so construed and applied as to save to the parties any rights they may have to trial by jury.
(c) Security. No restraining order or preliminary injunction shall issue except upon the giving of security by the applicant, in such sum as the court deems proper, for the payment of such costs and damages as may be incurred or suffered by any party who is found to have been wrongfully enjoined or restrained, provided, however, that for good cause shown and recited in the order, the court may waive the giving of security. A surety upon a bond or undertaking under this rule submits to the jurisdiction of the court and irrevocably appoints the clerk of the court as the surety’s agent upon whom any papers affecting the surety’s liability on the bond or undertaking may be served. The surety’s liability may be enforced on motion without the necessity of an independent action. The motion and such notice of the motion as the court prescribes may be served on the clerk of the court who shall forthwith mail copies to the persons giving the security if their addresses are known.
(d) Form and Scope of Restraining Order or Injunction. Every restraining order and every order granting a preliminary or permanent injunction shall set forth the reasons for its issuance; shall be specific in terms; shall describe in reasonable detail, and not by reference to the complaint or other document, the act or acts sought to be restrained; and is binding only upon the parties to the action, their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and upon those persons in active concert or participation with them who receive actual notice of the order by personal service or otherwise.
(e) Statutes. These rules do not modify any statute relating to temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions in domestic relations actions, actions affecting employer and employee or any other actions where an injunctive proceeding is conducted according to statute.
(f) Presentation to Other Justice or Judge. When an application for an injunction or for an order or decree under this rule is made to one justice or judge and has been acted upon by that justice or judge, it shall not be presented to any other justice or judge except by consent of the first justice or judge which may be oral.
Advisory Committee’s Notes & Reporter’s Notes
Advisory Note – November 2023
Rule 65(a) is amended to remove reference to the clerk’s “office” given that filing may in some instances be achieved electronically—not in a physical office—pursuant to the Maine Rules of Electronic Court Systems.
Advisory Committee’s Notes — May 1, 2000
Subdivision (e) is broadened. The present language is the same as that adopted in 1959. At that time, statutes may have only significantly affected injunctive relief issues in labor disputes. Since then a number of statutes have been adopted in other areas, particularly domestic relations, that prescribe injunctive practice for particular causes of actions, for example, the automatic injunctions that issue to protect against dissipation of property in divorce cases. Accordingly, the amendment broadens the language of the rule to recognize these other statutory impacts on injunctive practice.
Advisory Committee’s Note — November 15, 1976
This amendment is intended to facilitate the on-going prosecution of requests for temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions. The rule still is intended to prohibit counsel from showing an application for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction in the first instance to more than one Justice. As noted in Field, McKusick & Wroth, Maine Civil Practice, § 65.9 at p. 114, this rule is intended to “. . . [P]revent the plaintiff’s counsel from shopping around from judge to judge until he finds one who will grant the desired injunction.” The language of the rule as amended is not intended, however, to restrict the on-going consideration of the application to the judge who initially hears the matter and grants the temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction. It is the purpose of this amendment to permit
subsequent proceedings on the application to be held before any justice who has the oral consent of the justice who initially heard the application. It is not intended that the rule should delay proceedings on such applications according to the scheduling needs of the justice initially hearing the application.
Advisory Committee’s Note — December 31, 1967
This amendment makes the effective period of a temporary restraining order a matter of the discretion of the court. The rigid time limit of 10 days, with one extension for a like period, is eliminated. However, it would be expected that the court will continue to fix only a very limited duration for a temporary restraining order, and will exceed the present time periods only in the unusual circumstance where the situation of the parties and the schedule of the court require a greater amount of time before the hearing on the application for preliminary injunction. Also, the defendant against whom the temporary restraining order has been issued without notice can move for the dissolution of the order. The last sentence of Rule 65(a) assures him of a prompt hearing.
Explanation of Amendments
(Nov. 1, 1966)
The amendment of Rule 65(a) was taken from a 1966 amendment to F.R. 65(b). It adverts specifically to the possibility of oral notice to the adverse party or his attorney before granting a temporary restraining order. It has been common in Maine for the judge to insist upon such notice if it is practicable. The amendment codifies this practice and requires an opportunity for the adverse party or his attorney to be heard in opposition to a temporary restraining order unless irreparable injury will result.
The amendment of Rule 65(b) was taken from a 1966 amendment to F.R. 65(a). It adds a new subdivision (2) providing express authority for consolidation of an application for a preliminary injunction with the trial on the merits (a power presumably existing without need of specification by rule). The new subdivision provides further that when there is no such consolidation, evidence received in connection with an application for a preliminary injunction which would be admissible on the trial on the merits becomes part of the trial record and need not be repeated at trial.
Reporter’s Notes — December 1, 1959
This rule is like Federal Rule 65, but with minor changes. It is somewhat more elaborate than the procedure under R.S.1954, Chap. 107, Sec. 34 (repealed in 1959), but not significantly different. The second sentence of Rule 65(a) is not in the federal rule but is taken from Equity Rule 12.
Similarly the second sentence of Rule 65(b) has no federal counterpart. It is designed to make clear that when the complaint demands only a permanent injunction, a preliminary injunction may be sought by motion. Ordinarily it may be assumed that a preliminary injunction will be prayed for in the complaint if the plaintiff desires such relief.
The proviso giving the court power, for good cause shown, to waive the giving of security under Rule 65(c) is not in the federal rule.
Subdivision (e) makes it clear that R.S.1954, Chap. 107, See. 36 [now 26 M.R.S.A. § 5], dealing with injunctions in labor disputes, is not affected by the rule.
Rule 65(f) is not in the federal rule. It is taken from Equity Rule 37, with the added proviso that a justice who has acted upon a matter may direct that because of his necessary absence it may be presented to another justice.
Plain-English Summary
A temporary restraining order can issue without notice to the other side only if specific facts in an affidavit or verified complaint clearly show immediate and irreparable injury will occur before that party can be heard, and the applicant's attorney certifies in writing what notice efforts were made and why more should not be required. Every such order must be endorsed with its date and hour, filed and entered of record right away, define the injury and explain why it is irreparable and why notice was skipped, and expire within the time the court sets unless extended for good cause or by the restrained party's consent, with the reasons for any extension entered on the record. Once a TRO issues without notice, the preliminary injunction hearing must be set at the earliest possible time, taking priority over all but older matters of the same kind; if the party who obtained the TRO does not pursue the preliminary injunction, the court dissolves the TRO, and the restrained party can move, on two days' notice, to dissolve or modify it.
A preliminary injunction, by contrast, always requires notice to the other side, and the application can be made in the complaint or by separate motion. The court can consolidate the preliminary injunction hearing with the trial on the merits, and even without formal consolidation, admissible evidence from the injunction hearing becomes part of the trial record without needing to be repeated, all while preserving the parties' jury-trial rights. No restraining order or injunction issues without the applicant posting security, in an amount the court sets, to cover the costs and damages of anyone found to have been wrongfully enjoined, unless the court waives security for good cause stated in the order; a surety on that bond submits to the court's jurisdiction and can have liability enforced by motion rather than a separate lawsuit. Every restraining order and injunction must state its reasons, be specific in its terms, and describe the restrained conduct in reasonable detail rather than by reference to the complaint or another document, and it binds the parties, their agents and employees, and anyone acting in concert with them who has actual notice. The rule leaves untouched any statute governing injunctions in domestic relations, employment, or other specially regulated proceedings, and once one judge has acted on an injunction application, it cannot go before a different judge without the first judge's consent.
Frequently Asked Questions
When can a court issue a restraining order without notifying the other side?
Only when specific facts in an affidavit or verified complaint clearly show immediate and irreparable injury will occur before the other side can be heard, and the applicant's attorney certifies in writing what notice efforts were made and why more should not be required.
Is a bond required to get a preliminary injunction or restraining order?
Yes, in an amount the court sets to cover the costs and damages of anyone wrongfully enjoined, unless the court waives security for good cause stated in the order.
What must an injunction order include?
Its reasons for issuing, specific terms, and a reasonably detailed description of the restrained conduct — it cannot refer to the complaint or another document instead — and it binds the parties, their agents and employees, and anyone in active concert with them who has actual notice.
Source & verification. The rule text and Advisory Committee’s Notes / Reporter’s
Notes are reproduced verbatim from the official Maine Rules of Civil Procedure (Me. R. Civ. P. 65), prescribed by the
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine (4 M.R.S. § 8, the Rules Enabling Act). The plain-English summary is original and written by us. Last verified July 8, 2026. ·
Official source
Also known as: temporary restraining order Mainepreliminary injunctioninjunction bondTRO without notice