Loren Gary v. Dennis Reagle, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana denied two motions for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction, a motion for declaratory judgment, and a motion to strike. The court held that the first requested injunction lacked a nexus to the claims and sought relief against a nonparty, while the second lacked supporting evidence and clarity regarding the requested relief. The court also found the declaratory judgment motion and motion to strike insufficiently specific, and left a later TRO motion under advisement.

Holdings

1. A district court may not enter an injunction directing a nonparty to act or refrain from acting, and it may not grant injunctive relief lacking a nexus to the claims in the action.
2. A preliminary injunction, as an extraordinary remedy, requires some evidentiary support and a sufficiently clear statement of the relief sought.
3. A motion for declaratory judgment must state with particularity the grounds for seeking the order; a conclusory one-sentence request is insufficient.
4. A motion to strike must identify a legally sufficient basis for striking the opposing filing; a vague assertion that the opposition violated constitutional rights is insufficient.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court could grant injunctive relief directed at a nonparty and unrelated to the claims in the action.
2. Whether a preliminary injunction should issue when the movant submitted no supporting evidence and failed to clearly identify the requested relief.
3. Whether the plaintiff's declaratory-judgment motion adequately stated the grounds for the requested order.
4. Whether the motion to strike the opposition to the declaratory-judgment motion adequately stated a basis for relief.

Disposition

other