Johnson v. Pate

This is an original application in this court for a writ of prohibition permanently restraining the respondent, as judge of the superior court for Pierce County, from entering an order enjoining the relator from selling dry-cleaning services below cost, pending the trial of an action brought against him under the provisions of RCW 19.90.040, forbidding price-cutting practices. The relator alleges that the court exceeded its jurisdiction, inasmuch as the applicable statute does not authorize the granting of a temporary injunction, prior to a hearing on the merits.

Assuming the correctness of…