Short answer. A preliminary injunction may be granted by the court where the action or proceeding is actually pending. If your case is pending in the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court, that court, or any member of it, may issue the injunction directly.
What the law says
A preliminary injunction may be granted by the court where the action or proceeding is pending. If the action or proceeding is pending in the Court of Appeals or in the Supreme Court, it may be issued by said court or any member thereof.
Rule 58, Section 2 — Who may grant preliminary injunction. Read the full provision →
The general rule follows the case
Rule 58, Section 2 ties the power to grant a preliminary injunction directly to wherever the action or proceeding is currently pending. This means the authority to issue the injunction is not fixed to any particular level of court in the abstract — it follows the case itself as it moves through the levels of the judicial system. A party seeking an injunction does not need to identify some separate, fixed injunction-issuing court; the court currently seized of the underlying case is simply the one that holds the power to act on the application. Once a case moves from the trial court to an appellate court on appeal, the injunctive power described here moves with it, so the correct forum for a new injunction application shifts along with wherever the case itself is actually then pending.
Appellate courts can act directly
The section specifically addresses cases pending in the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court, confirming clearly that those courts are not limited to reviewing an injunction ruling made below — they can issue the preliminary injunction themselves in a case that is properly before them. This matters greatly for a case already on appeal, since it means the appellant does not have to go back down to the trial court just to secure interim injunctive relief while the appeal itself remains pending and unresolved before the higher court. The same rule protects the appellee as well, since either side to the appeal can seek injunctive relief directly from whichever appellate court currently has the case, without needing a separate trip back to the court of origin.
A single member of the court may issue it
Notably, the section allows the injunction in the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court to be issued by said court or any member thereof, rather than necessarily requiring action by the full court or a division acting together. This can allow for much faster action on an urgent request without waiting for a full panel to convene. Given how time-sensitive injunctive relief typically is, allowing a single justice to act preserves the practical value of the remedy even when the full court or division is not immediately available to convene together on short notice. This single-member authority exists specifically because injunctive relief is meant to prevent irreparable harm while the underlying case is still pending, and that purpose would be defeated if urgent applications had to wait for a full court's convenience.
Related provisions
- Rule 58, Section 2 — Who may grant preliminary injunction
- Rule 58, Section 1 — Preliminary injunction defined; classes
- Rule 58, Section 3 — Grounds for issuance of preliminary injunction