Equitable relief, including injunctions

When no other law seems to apply, turn to equity. Even if other laws apply, equity may also assist. But to seek equity, one must do equity, and one must have clean hands – in simple talk, the one seeking equity must ‘smell of roses’.

Equity sits aside other parts of the law to provide justice (fairness) to correct an injustice. Equity allows the Court to urgently (but usually for a short time) order someone to do something (mandatory injunction), or not do something (prohibitive injunction) until the larger dispute is resolved. Equity also allows the Court to order someone to pay damages for the loss that someone else has suffered as a result of a breach of an equitable duty.

We have assisted clients to obtain relief in Equity including to:

• Urgently freeze someone’s assets in the short term whilst a larger dispute is determined by the Court (mareva injunction), for example when there has been a fraud.
• Urgently preserve evidence that someone else controls (anton pillar order).
• Urgently prevent someone from using your confidential information, both permanently and whilst a larger dispute is played out, for example, when an employee steals your client list and goes to a competitor.
• Prevent someone from benefiting from a prior relationship of trust with you (for example, co-directors in a business who obtain personal benefits,) mostly until a larger dispute has been determined, for example in formal and informal business partnerships.
• Obtain damages from someone who has breached a duty.
• Enforce the promises made to each other during the course of a relationship, usually a business relationship (estoppel).
• Force someone to perform an agreement, for example, to supply a good or service under a contract (specific performance).
• Protect your interest in property, for example if you have improved someone else’s property (constructive trusts).