INJUNCTIONS  &  RESTRAINTS 

In New South Wales, the power to grant an injunction typically rests with the Supreme Court. An injunction is an order by the Court for a party to either do or refrain from doing a particular act or thing. This can include orders such as:

1. not going near a certain person or space;
2. freezing orders – preventing someone from selling certain property; and
3. not making publications, such as Facebook posts or defaming articles, about someone.

There are several types of injunctions available, each of the individual injunctions has its own requirements and elements to prove to the Court. Injunctions may have effect for a limited time or may be permanent

An “interlocutory injunction” is a temporary order which is usually framed to continue to be in force until the trial or until further notice and is generally sought in urgent circumstances to protect an immediate right until the Court has time to hear the dispute at trial.

Interlocutory injunctions may be sought in several types of cases including contractual, property and tortious disputes. In deciding whether to exercise its discretion to award an interlocutory injunction, the Court will also consider the balance of convenience. This requires careful consideration of what effects the granting of an injunction will have on both parties, namely, whether to grant one would cause undue hardship to the defendant or to refuse one would cause undue hardship to the applicant. The Court, among other things, will consider the nature of the rights in dispute and the nature of the allegations made.

A prohibitory injunction is an order made by the Court forcing a party to refrain from doing a particular act or thing. These types of injunctions may most commonly be obtained to prevent things such as the sale of a product, the use of a publication or the use of confidential information e.g., trade secrets.

A mandatory injunction is an order that requires/compels one party to complete a specific act or to restore something to its natural state. Therefore, the party is compelled to restore the situation which would have prevailed but for the party’s breach. An example of this is reinstating a tenant their leased property when they have been wrongfully evicted by their landlord. The Court will impose an injunction allowing the property to be leased to the original tenant. Similarly, if one party is refusing to comply with their obligations, a mandatory injunction can be sought to compel the breaching party to comply.

Green & Associates Solicitors Experience and Success 

• We have acted in a wide range of disputes defending and enforcing injunctions and restraints;
• We have used injunctions to stop unauthorised transfers of land and business assets, stop infringements of intellectual property rights and prevent defamatory media publications; we have got employees out of restraints of trade even when sued in the Supreme Court and even after signing clear contractual terms, receiving large salaries and incentives, and being in highly competitive and client-focused roles.

At Green & Associates, we have comprehensive experience in both seeking injunctions for our Clients in the utmost serious cases, as well as responding to them. We are well equipped to provide you with advice concerning the remedies available to you. You may contact us on 02 8080 7585 for a consultation.

We are also uniquely placed to provide in-house legal advice to Businesses and Individuals across a broad range of matters, including:

• employment-law issues (i.e. enforcing or dispute a restraint of trade clause for previous or new employees);
• compliance and regulatory issues (i.e. licencing and underquoting breaches)
• criminal matters;
• property matters;
• defamation proceedings; and
• all types of commercial matters