PRIA Logo™
Title 15, Commerce and TradeRelease 119-102

§26 Injunctive Relief for Private Parties; Exception; Costs

Title 15 › CHAPTER 1 — MONOPOLIES AND COMBINATIONS IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE › § 26

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Anyone — a person, company, or group — may go to a U.S. court that has power over the parties and ask the court to stop or prevent harm from violations of the antitrust laws, including sections 13, 14, 18, and 19. Courts must follow normal equity rules. To get a temporary (preliminary) injunction, the requester must show immediate, irreparable harm and must post a bond to cover damages if the injunction was wrongly granted. Only the United States may seek injunctions against common carriers regulated by the Surface Transportation Board (subtitle IV of title 49). If the plaintiff substantially prevails, the court must order the defendant to pay the cost of the suit, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §26

Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Any person, firm, corporation, or association shall be entitled to sue for and have injunctive relief, in any court of the United States having jurisdiction over the parties, against threatened loss or damage by a violation of the antitrust laws, including section 13, 14, 18, and 19 of this title, when and under the same conditions and principles as injunctive relief against threatened conduct that will cause loss or damage is granted by courts of equity, under the rules governing such proceedings, and upon the execution of proper bond against damages for an injunction improvidently granted and a showing that the danger of irreparable loss or damage is immediate, a preliminary injunction may issue: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to entitle any person, firm, corporation, or association, except the United States, to bring suit for injunctive relief against any common carrier subject to the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board under subtitle IV of title 49. In any action under this section in which the plaintiff substantially prevails, the court shall award the cost of suit, including a reasonable attorney’s fee, to such plaintiff.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The antitrust laws, referred to in text, are defined in section 12 of this title.

Amendments

1995—Pub. L. 104–88 substituted “for injunctive relief against any common carrier subject to the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board under subtitle IV of title 49” for “in equity for injunctive relief against any common carrier subject to the provisions of the Act to regulate commerce, approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, in respect of any matter subject to the regulation, supervision, or other jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission.” 1976—Pub. L. 94–435 inserted provision authorizing court to award costs, including attorneys’ fees, to a successful plaintiff.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1995 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 104–88 effective Jan. 1, 1996, see section 2 of Pub. L. 104–88, set out as an

Effective Date

note under section 1301 of Title 49, Transportation.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 26

Title 15, Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102