On Monday November 16, 2015, daily fantasy sports (DFS) giants DraftKings, Inc. and FanDuel, Inc. requested temporary restraining orders in their individual state court actions against N.Y. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Those requests were denied by Justice Manuel Mendez.
The underlying lawsuits were filed by DraftKings and FanDuel in response to Scheiderman’s November 10, 2015 decision, in which Schneiderman ordered the companies to cease and desist from accepting DFS wagers from New York residents.
The individual actions of both plaintiffs request injunctive relief — a judicial prevention of AG Schneiderman’s decision. Pursuant to this requested relief, both DraftKings and FanDuel sought a temporary restraining order (TRO).
TRO grants merely preserve the status quo until the merits are decided at the preliminary injunction hearing. In other words, if TRO’s were granted to DraftKings and FanDuel, Schneiderman would be prevented from prohibiting the companies’ business operations only until the preliminary injunction hearing is held. And, courts generally schedule this hearing as soon as possible. Therefore, even if their requests were successful, TRO’s granted to DraftKings and FanDuel would have been short lived. A TRO is “temporary” after all.
Nevertheless, the preliminary injunction hearing provides the DFS companies with another shot. On a preliminary injunction hearing, the court examines the matter in depth and determines whether to preserve the status quo until the underlying case is decided on subsequent motions or at trial. Accordingly, the preliminary injunction hearings will provide DraftKings and FanDuel with an opportunity to suspend Schneiderman’s decision for a considerable amount of time.
The preliminary injunction hearing has been scheduled for next week on November 25, 2015.