Things you need to know
Brennans solicitors
Lawyers - Property, commercial, disputes, Wills and estates
Brennans solicitors
Lawyers - Property, commercial, disputes, Wills and estates
Brennans solicitors Lawyers - Property, commercial, disputes, Wills and estates
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Paul Brennan is the principal of Brennans Solicitors, a law firm located on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, where he practices with his wife, Diane in the areas of business law, litigation, property and wills/estates.
Over the years, by working in various countries, he noticed how similar the law can be. He set out to explain the law in a simple and often humorous way.
He has written several books about law and lawyers.
Further details of his profile can be found on Linkedin.
In the old days people would rush before the king, demand justice and he would immediately deal with the case. When the king decided to knock that on the head, lawyers got hold of the litigation process and implemented increasingly more longwinded proceedings.
Today the processes are relatively quick, but you still need to jump the hurdles of your lawyer wanting to send a warning letter to the other side, collecting detail and paperwork, taking statements and doing a lot of messing about called solid preparation. It takes weeks before you can slap a writ on your enemy and worse still, they don’t even call it a writ anymore.
Nevertheless, in some cases the matter is urgent, e.g. a former employee giving your client list to a competitor, a neighbour knocking down your wall or tree, a threat of nuclear attack etc., and you can be in court the following morning. In these sorts of cases, a court will order an “interim injunction” to stop the action until the case can be heard.
Upon applying for an injunction, you undertake to be responsible for any loss caused by the injunction if you should lose. However, courts do not just give injunctions away. There are certain tests that a judge will apply, such as:
• Is it something serious? Anything involving pets, hurt feelings or golf is not going to do it.
• Is it really necessary? Could a payment of compensation (“damages”) after the hearing be sufficient compensation?
• The court will try to balance the convenience of granting an injunction to you against the inconvenience to your enemy. For instance, what if you were wrong but the injunction causes your enemy’s business to go under?
An application for an interim injunction is quick, exciting and of course expensive.
© Paul Brennan 2018. All rights Reserved.
Extract from "The Art of War, Peace & Palaver: The Contentious Guide to Legal Disputes"
