Where can I get example injunctions for inclusion in a pleading?

Question

In legal guide books on making civil pleadings, they give example forms for the pleading itself, but they just say that the attorney should "include a sample injunction", but they don't give any examples of this.

I assume the court has its own templates for making injunctions, so I don't need to do this. Should I however, provide an example text which the court can then insert into their injunction? Where can I find example text I can use? Can I just go to the court and ask to see all their injunctions and read through them?

In my case the ideal text will be something like "The court orders the XYZ Corporation of 123 Main Street to make available to Joseph Plaintiff any all their financial records from 2015 through 2017 and to return a sworn statement to the court that this has been done by June 1, 2017." Is there standard text for such injunctions?

Answer 1

There really is no standard form for orders imposing injunctions. They are, in general, arguably the most customized documents in the entire legal system, because they are a court order to do or not do something. They would generally, however, say to whom they are directed and might provide for how they should be served.

Also, it is hard to find examples in public records because injunctions are documents entered by trial courts whose orders are public records but are not indexed or easily accessible. Decisions of appellate courts reviewing injunctions are much more widely available, but they rarely quote the entire language of the injunction in full.

Your best bets to find models in accessible sources with full text are the PACER system which has the full text of every federal trial court pleading and order at a minimal cost, and the SEC's EDGAR system in which publicly held companies must disclose documents such as court orders entered against them in litigation that are pertinent to the fair market value of the company.

Either way, you really need to know in advance of searching the particular case with the particular parties in which some injunction you would like to use as a model was issued (e.g. from newspaper or trade press accounts), and then either search in PACER or EDGAR using that information.

Law libraries also often have treatises with forms in them, as practice guides, and sometimes there will be examples there.

In general, a court order will have a court caption, recite the information it considered (pleadings, hearings, etc.) to reach its decision, sometimes will restate the arguments of each party and the findings of fact and conclusions of law it reached in light of those arguments with the factual and legal basis for that decision, and then will set forth in as precise language as possible the terms of the order it chooses to impose. If there is a bond requirement, it will set a bond, direct its form (e.g. cash, personal recognizance, property) and explain the reasons for the bond required. Often it will set forth a deadline and expressly state who is bound by the order. It will close by saying something like "Done the ___ day of __________, 2017" and have a signature line for the judge with the judge's name and title appearing below that line). It will ordinarily not contain a certificate of service although local practice varies.