(1)
The district courts of this state and the judges thereof shall have full power,
authority, and jurisdiction to enjoin the wholesale promotion, promotion, or display
of obscene materials as specified in this section and to issue all necessary and
proper restraining orders, injunctions, and writs and processes in connection
therewith not inconsistent with this article.
(2) The district attorney of the county in which a person, firm, or corporation
wholesale promotes, promotes, or displays, or is about to wholesale promote,
promote, or display, or has in his, her, or its possession with intent to wholesale
promote, promote, or display, or is about to acquire possession with intent to
wholesale promote, promote, or display any obscene material may maintain an
action for injunction against such person, firm, or corporation to prevent the
wholesale promotion, promotion, or display or further wholesale promotion,
promotion, or display of said material described or identified in said suit for
injunction.
(3) This article shall not authorize the issuance of temporary restraining
orders except where exigent circumstances require the same. In matters of exigent
circumstances, the restraining order shall provide that the action must be
commenced on the earliest possible date. No temporary restraining order may be
issued to restrain the continued exhibitions of a motion picture being shown
commercially before the public, notwithstanding the existence of exigent
circumstances.
(4) No temporary restraining order or temporary injunction may be issued
except after notice to the person, firm, or corporation sought to be enjoined and
only after all parties have been offered or afforded an opportunity to be heard. A
person, firm, or corporation shall be deemed to have been offered or afforded an
opportunity to be heard if notice has been given and he, she, or it fails to appear. At
such hearing, evidence shall be presented and witnesses examined.
(5) Before or after the commencement of the hearing on an application for a
temporary injunction, the court may, and on motion of the party sought to be
restrained shall, order the trial on the action on the merits to be advanced and
consolidated with the hearing on the application. Where such hearings are not so
consolidated, and a temporary injunction or restraining order is issued, the court
shall hold a final hearing and a trial of the issues within one day after joinder of
issue, and a decision shall be rendered within two days of the conclusion of the trial.
If a final hearing is not held within one day after joinder of issue or a decision not
rendered within two days of the conclusion of the trial, the injunction shall be
dissolved. No temporary injunction or restraining order shall issue until after a
showing of probable cause to believe that the material or display is obscene and a
showing of probable success on the merits. Any such temporary injunction or
restraining order shall provide that the defendant may not be punished for
contempt if the material is found not to be obscene after joinder of issue, final
hearing, and trial.
(6) Nothing contained in this article shall prevent the court from issuing a
temporary restraining order forbidding the removing, destroying, deleting, splicing,
or otherwise altering of any motion picture alleged to be obscene.
(7) Any person, firm, or corporation sought to be permanently enjoined shall
be entitled to a full adversary trial of the issues within one day after the joinder of
issue, and a decision shall be rendered by the court within two days of the
conclusion of the trial. If the defendant in any suit for a permanent injunction filed
under the terms of this article shall fail to answer or otherwise join issue within the
time required to file his, her, or its answer, the court, on motion of the party
applying for the injunction, shall enter a general denial for the defendant and set a
date for hearing on the question raised in the suit for injunction within fourteen
days following the entry of the general denial entered by the court. The court shall
render its decision within two days after the conclusion of the hearing.
(8) In the event that a final order or judgment of injunction is entered against
the person, firm, or corporation sought to be enjoined, such final order or judgment
shall contain a provision directing the person, firm, or corporation to surrender to
the sheriff of the county in which the action was brought any of the material
described in subsection (2) of this section, and such sheriff shall be directed to
seize and destroy the same six months after the entry of the said final order unless
criminal proceedings or an indictment is brought before that time, in which event,
said material may be used as evidence in such criminal proceeding.
(9) In any action brought as herein provided, the district attorney shall not be
required to file any undertaking, bond, or security before the issuance of any
injunction order provided for above, shall not be liable for costs, and shall not be
liable for damages sustained by reason of the injunction order in cases where
judgment is rendered in favor of the person, firm, or corporation sought to be
enjoined.
(10) Every person, firm, or corporation who wholesale promotes, promotes,
displays, or acquires possession with intent to wholesale promote, promote, or
display any of the material described in subsection (2) of this section, after the
service upon him of a summons and complaint in an action brought pursuant to this
article, is chargeable with knowledge of the contents.