What is an injunction?

Injunctions are remedies usually via court order, which can be obtained and used to either prevent a party from doing something, e.g. to prevent the sale of a property where the legal/beneficial interest is disputed, or to compel a party to take a specific action, e.g. twitter suing Elon Musk to complete the purchase of the company. These are called prohibitory and mandatory injunctions.

This remedy can be sought before or after court proceedings have been issued. A breach of an injunction can lead to a party being held in contempt of Court which can lead to imprisonment.

Principles

• In order to apply for an injunction there must be an underlying claim with a reasonable prospect of success e.g. a breach of contract claim.
• An injunction is an equitable and discretionary remedy. Unless applications are made with haste and the applicant ‘comes with clean hands’ the application is likely to fail.
• An application for an injunction is unlikely to be successful if an award of damages would be a sufficient remedy.

Undertakings

Injunctions are such strong remedies that there are prerequisite undertakings/stipulations which must be followed/provided before one can be granted.

1. An applicant will need to provide an undertaking to the court to pay any damages which the respondent sustains which the court considers the applicant should pay.
2. If made without notice to any other party, an undertaking by the applicant to the court to serve on the respondent the application notice, evidence in support, any order made as soon as practicable and a return date for a further hearing at which the other party can be present.
3. If made before filing the application notice, an undertaking to file and pay the appropriate fee on the same or next working day.
4. If made before issue of a claim form:
   • an undertaking to issue and pay the appropriate fee on the same or next working day
   • directions for the commencement of the claim.

Applying for and obtaining an injunction can be a complicated, time consuming and expensive process. At TV Edwards Solicitors LLP we can provide you with tailored advice to progress your matter.