Opinion ID: 2638546
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: GRCC's Entitlement to Attorney Fees and Expenses Incurred in Defeating Thayn's Temporary Restraining Order and Motion for Preliminary Injunction

Text: ¶ 38 In 1999, Thayn obtained a temporary restraining order and sought a preliminary injunction to stop construction work on the 40-foot wall built by GRCC across the head of the raceway. After the hearing on Thayn's motion for a preliminary injunction, the trial court found that any injury suffered by Thayn was not irreparable. The trial court found that any damage to Thayn's canal as a result of the 40-foot wall could be assessed and compensated for in money damages. That is, even if GRCC's conduct was wrongful, the appropriate relief was to seek a remedy at law, rather than the equitable remedy of an injunction. The trial court therefore denied the application for a preliminary injunction and dissolved the temporary restraining order. At issue now is whether GRCC can recover reasonable attorney fees and other litigation expenses for fighting the imposition of a preliminary injunction rather than fighting to dissolve the wrongfully-issued temporary restraining order. We find that GRCC can recover its fees and expenses. ¶ 39 The Utah Rules of Civil Procedure allow a wrongfully restrained party to recover attorney fees incurred in connection with a temporary restraining order or injunction. Utah R. Civ. P. 65A(c)(2); Beard v. Dugdale, 741 P.2d 968 (Utah Ct.App.1987); see also McAtee v. Faulkner Land & Livestock, 113 Idaho 393, 744 P.2d 121 (Ct.App.1987) (interpreting Idaho R. Civ. P. 65(c), which employs similar language to the Utah rule). Fighting the imposition of a preliminary injunction is a collateral attack on an existing temporary restraining order. IKON Office Solutions, Inc. v. Crook, 2000 UT App 217, ¶ 22, 6 P.3d 1143 (Utah Ct.App.2000). Moreover, the temporary restraining order must be dissolved if the trial court refuses to allow the order to be enforced as a preliminary injunction. Utah R. Civ. P. 65A(b)(3). In Ikon Office Solutions, the court of appeals held that requiring a party to bring a separate motion to dissolve the temporary restraining order, apart from its defense against a preliminary injunction, would be duplicative, costly, and probably futile. Id. at ¶ 14. Here, when GRCC attacked the preliminary injunction, they were also attacking the temporary restraining order. The language of the trial court's order demonstrates this clearly: The Temporary Restraining Order is dissolved and the Motion for a Preliminary Injunction is denied. Because GRCC effectively defeated a wrongfully issued restraining order by attacking its enforcement as a preliminary injunction, GRCC is entitled to its attorney fees. ¶ 40 GRCC may also recover other expenses incurred in fighting the preliminary injunction, including expert witness fees. We see no rationale for allowing recovery of attorney fees but denying other litigation expenses. The use of costs and damages in Rule 65A(c) has always been interpreted more broadly than traditional limitations on the term costs. See Mountain States Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Atkin, Wright, & Miles, Chartered, 681 P.2d 1258, 1262 (Utah 1984) (allowing recovery of attorney fees in damages under Rule 65A(c) before the amendment of the statute explicitly allowed such recovery); but see Frampton v. Wilson, 605 P.2d 771, 774 (Utah 1980) (limiting the definition of the term costs to fees which are required to be paid to the court and to witnesses, and for which the statutes authorize to be included in the judgment, excluding expert witness fees). Like attorney fees, these were costs incurred as a direct result of a wrongful enjoinder. We therefore find that Rule 65A(c) is sufficiently broad to include recovery of the litigation expenses sought by GRCC. [11] ¶ 41 Finally, we note that the preliminary injunction was not wrongfully denied. The trial court based its denial partially on Thayn's lack of an underlying claim related to the subject of the preliminary injunction. Thayn argues that he was wrongfully denied a counterclaim that would have given him a basis for this preliminary injunction. However, this does not alter the validity of the denial of the preliminary injunction itself. The trial court primarily based its denial on the fact that any harm Thayn suffered was not irreparable. The lack of an underlying claim was not essential to the denial of the preliminary injunction, and therefore the preliminary injunction was not wrongfully denied.