A plaintiff seeking a pre-judgment remedy — a TRO restraining the defendant, an injunction halting conduct, an attachment freezing assets, a writ of replevin recovering property — must post security against wrongful use of that remedy. We write every plaintiff bond instrument in every U.S. court, with same-day emergency issuance for time-sensitive applications. The bond clock often runs in hours, not days; our underwriting desk runs on the same clock.
The animating constitutional principle is due process. A plaintiff who obtains a pre-judgment remedy — restraining the defendant, seizing assets, freezing accounts — has obtained substantial relief before winning the underlying case. The defendant has been deprived of the use of property, the practice of a business activity, or the exercise of a right, on the strength of an unproven claim. Due process requires that the plaintiff post security against the possibility that the relief proves to be wrongful.
The bond is that security. The principal is the plaintiff. The obligee is typically the defendant (and in garnishment cases, the third-party garnishee). The bond pays damages caused by the wrongful seizure if the plaintiff loses the underlying case or if the pre-judgment remedy is dissolved: returned check fees, lost interest, payroll disruption, lost business revenue, the defendant's attorney's fees in dissolving the writ.
Plaintiff bonds are the time-sensitive end of court bond practice. A TRO bond may need to issue within hours of the court granting the ex parte motion. A replevin bond may need to be on the sheriff's desk by close of court. An injunction bond may need to be posted before the bench's bond order is even reduced to writing. Our underwriting desk is built for that timing — 7/52/365 emergency routing for time-sensitive plaintiff work.
Seven distinct plaintiff bond instruments cover the typical pre-judgment remedies in U.S. civil practice. Each has its own statutory or rule basis, its own sizing formula, and its own underwriting profile.
Federal court plaintiff bonds operate under two principal authorities. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 64 adopts the seizure remedies of the forum state — attachment, replevin, garnishment — into federal practice. The state's substantive rules govern the seizure; FRCP 64 provides the procedural overlay.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(c) governs preliminary injunction and TRO bonds in federal court. The court "may issue a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order only if the movant gives security in an amount that the court considers proper to pay the costs and damages sustained by any party found to have been wrongfully enjoined or restrained." This is the controlling federal language; state equivalents typically follow the same model.
Constitutional due process doctrine governs the minimum across both state and federal practice. The Supreme Court's seizure trilogy — Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp., Fuentes v. Shevin, and Connecticut v. Doehr — establishes the constitutional floor for pre-judgment deprivation of property.
Plaintiff bonds are the most underwriter-friendly court bonds in our practice. The risk profile is bounded by the damages that flow from a wrongful pre-judgment remedy, which are typically modest relative to the bond penalty. Most plaintiff bonds are written uncollateralized on standard application terms for principals with conventional financial position.
For non-standard files — credit-challenged plaintiffs, weak underlying claims, very large bond amounts in commercial litigation — collateral is available. Three forms are accepted: cash, irrevocable letter of credit, or U.S. Treasury securities (for bond penalties over $5M). Real estate is not accepted. We write non-standard plaintiff bonds for principals other carriers decline; the premium is higher, the bond issues.
Three documents start most plaintiff bond files: the complaint or petition, the motion or court order establishing the bond requirement, and a brief financial statement. Time-sensitive emergency files — particularly TROs and same-day replevins — go directly to the live underwriting desk; we deliver bonds in PDF for direct e-filing within hours.
Send the motion and the bond order. Our underwriters open the file and respond immediately, 7/52/365.