This is specifically in regard to California law; however the law in other states is also helpful information.
If there is an ex parte order against one party in a civil dispute, does that party have any right to know exactly what was said at those proceedings? If not a transcript, surely the allegations in the initial filing?
What if that party is not represented by counsel?
I would think it is part of your due process rights but I don’t know. However ex parte rulings tend to be pretty rare in my dated and limited experience. I think they are mainly issued when either you have no way of contacting a party but need access to something they control or there is a realistic danger that the defendant will do something to obstruct the judicial process if they are given notice. An example of the latter might be destruction of evidence. I think it is also used for various purposes in domestic violence cases where it is deemed prudent to conceal certain information about the plaintiff.
Any of the lawyers here would probably need more info. But you can always look this up in CJS or AmJur (corpus juris secundum, american jurisprudence). Any large university library or law library (check your county courthouse) will have a copy.
(not a lawyer)
I read about ex parte domestic violence restraining orders a while back. Basically, courts are only supposed to issue them when there appears to be an immediate danger, but they only last a short time and the defendant needs to be served papers right away and offered a chance to raise defenses or cross examine. That is, the ex parte order might be issued on Friday morning with an expiration date of Monday morning, with service to the defendant to be made immediately and a court date of Monday at 9 AM. Once the defendant is notified of the case and given an opportunity to examine the evidence and offer their own, the judge can make the order last much longer or be indefinite if the evidence indicates that it shoud be.
Close. In California, a domestic violence restraining order (as well as other restraining orders, like civil harassment orders or injunctions) are sometimes issued without notice to the other party, and are by their nature temporary. Typically, in a DV setting, the order will stand for three or four weeks, at which time there will be a full trial on the issues raised in the temporary order application. That means that a person can go into court on a Friday morning (say, May 6) and obtain a temporary order. That order must then be served on the defendant within a certain number of days. At the time of the first hearing, the judge will also set the trial date (say, June 3). On June 3, the applicant and the respondent both come to court and tell their side, with full cross-examination, introduction of evidence and all (including opening statement and closing argument, if you want to annoy the judge).
The judge then rules on the order, and can do one of two things: deny the application, or grant the application. Note that the temporary order, by its terms, will expire on the day of the trial anyway, so the judge doesn’t need to do anything about that. As a practical matter, what that means is that if you don’t finish the trial that day, the judge will grant another temporary restraining order that lasts until the next day, when the trial is continued. In California, if a permanent restraining order is granted, it is typically granted for only a year, although a judge has discretion to grant up to five years. After that, the order expires. Nothing is ever really permanent.
To answer the OP, yes, you do have a right to know what was said in court. That means going to the file and getting copies of whatever was filed, and calling the court reporter and asking for the transcript. Each of those costs money, unless there’s a fee waiver on file, in which case some or all of that is free, or at least discounted. If the party is not represented by counsel, consider calling the courtroom clerk and asking how to get documents (in LA county, for example, they’re available online, but other counties may not be as advanced) and how to contact the court reporter.
In the unusual case that documents are filed under seal, the other party generally has a right to see them. Although I was involved in a case where documents were filed under seal and only certain of the LAWYERS on the other side were allowed to see them, and they were not permitted to discuss the documents with other, named lawyers or the clients.
None of this is legal advice. This is simply general information, that has no application to any real life situation. I am not your lawyer; you are not my client. Do not rely on anything I say. Talk to your own lawyer or the self-help center at the court.