§ 65.013.Stay of Judgment or Proceeding

A partial-relief rule, and it prevents an equitable defence being used to stop everything.

An injunction may not be granted to stay a judgment or proceeding at law except to stay as much of the recovery or cause of action as the complainant in his petition shows himself equitably entitled to be relieved against and as much as will cover the costs.

The rule is one of proportion. A complainant with an equitable answer to part of a judgment gets an injunction against that part and no more.

Consider a judgment for $100,000 against which the complainant shows an equitable defence worth $20,000. The injunction reaches $20,000 plus costs; the remaining $80,000 remains collectable.

Without the limit the whole judgment would be frozen while a partial defence was litigated, which would turn a modest equitable claim into a complete stay.

The showing must appear "in his petition", so the pleading defines the extent of the relief — a petition that does not quantify the equitable entitlement supports no measured injunction.

The costs addition is practical. A complainant enjoining part of a recovery will incur costs in doing so, and the injunction may cover them.

The section reaches "a judgment or proceeding at law", so it applies both to enforcement of an existing judgment and to a pending action at law.

It reflects an old concern about equity and law. The historic complaint against the equity courts was that they were used to obstruct judgments obtained at law, and this is the statutory answer to it.

The following section adds a time limit, confining an injunction against execution of a valid judgment to one year in most cases.