Injunction meaning

Introduction to freezing injunctions and scope of this checklist A freezing injunction (also known as a freezing order) is a temporary court order that prevents a respondent from disposing of or transferring its assets out of the relevant jurisdiction—namely England and Wales—or, in the case of a worldwide freezing order (WFO), from moving them anywhere in the world. The court’s principal aim in granting such relief is to preserve the respondent’s assets so that, if the applicant later obtains judgment against the respondent, there will be assets available for recovery by the applicant and, if necessary, enforcement action. This Checklist explains how to make an application for a freezing injunction where claims are contemplated or already underway in a corporate or personal insolvency context. As the precise circumstances of each matter must be assessed, this Checklist does not claim to be exhaustive; rather, it provides an overview of the key considerations at each stage when seeking an order of this kind. The focus throughout is asset preservation pending determination...

This Checklist is intended to help practitioners adopt a structured method for resisting a without‑notice application for an interim injunction. It should be read in conjunction with the detailed guidance contained in the following Practice Notes: Interim injunctions—without notice applications Interim injunctions—the American Cyanamid guidelines Interim injunctions—drafting the order Although this Checklist concentrates on without‑notice applications, there is inevitably some cross‑over with matters that arise on on‑notice applications. Practitioners should therefore also familiarise themselves with the detailed guidance contained in: Opposing an on notice interim injunction application—checklist as well. 6 April 2025 changes With effect from 6 April 2025, the CPR provisions governing interim injunctive relief were amended. In particular, CPR 25 underwent extensive revision, and the related Practice Directions were revoked. This revocation covered the example draft orders found in Annex A and Annex B to Practice Direction 25A. In addition, three new ‘model orders’ came into force on 6 April 2025. The reforms were not intended to...

Checklist: reporting restriction orders in family proceedings This checklist sets out the steps to consider when applying for a reporting restriction order in family proceedings, including preliminary matters such as jurisdiction, any alternative statutory provision and grounds for exclusion. It explains notifying the media through the Press Association Injunction Applications Alert Service, and notifying other parties. It also covers the duration and scope of reporting restriction orders under the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955, the Practice Note (Official Solicitor: Deputy Director of Legal Services: Cafcass: Applications for reporting restriction orders) (also known as the Cafcass Practice Note), and the reporting restriction order standard order. A reporting restriction order is a court order restricting the publication or dissemination of certain information by media representatives or duly authorised lawyers about court proceedings. Its primary purpose is to protect the identities of those involved in the proceedings, such as children or incapacitated adults, where publication could cause harm, distress or a breach of privacy. ...

This Flowchart explains what the requirements are for industrial action to qualify for statutory immunity under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULR(C)A 1992), as amended by the Employment Rights Act 2025 English law confers no positive entitlement to organise or take part in industrial action. As a matter of common law, such action is ordinarily unlawful. A trade union that calls industrial action will typically commit one or more of the so‑called economic or industrial torts. Individuals who join the action will frequently breach their contracts of employment. Statute nevertheless intervenes to grant a union immunity from tortious liability when organising industrial action, but that protection is bounded by substantial and intricate statutory requirements. Industrial action that satisfies those requirements is treated as protected. Where statutory immunity does not arise, or is lost, the action is unprotected. The ramifications for a union of initiating industrial action that lacks statutory immunity can be significant, with the possibility of damages being awarded against it and/or...

Stage 1—preparing to bring a claim and pre-action matters Guidance on UK trade mark infringement, offences, passing off, interim injunctions, running IP disputes, privilege, dispute resolution (mediation and arbitration), and the Disclosure Scheme; plus checklists and forms (injunction, application, hearing) Stage 2—Letter before action alleging infringement Notes on infringement, passing off, unjustified threats and drafting; includes a trade mark letter of claim precedent Stage 3—commencing proceedings Procedure, defences and exceptions, IPEC flowchart, pleadings and initial disclosure precedents, and CPR/Part 36 forms Stage 4—case management Procedure and Disclosure Scheme notes, court guides (Chancery, Patents Court, IPEC and Small Claims), and case management questionnaires, Disclosure Review Document, Certificate of Compliance, budgets and directions Stage 5—disclosure and evidence Surveys and witness evidence (PD 57AC), privilege, disclosure (including electronic) and flexible trials; witness statement and Extended Disclosure precedents; affidavits, applications and certificates Stage 6—trial...

In this issue: Employment contract Horizon scanning Pensions Tax Prohibited conduct (discrimination etc) Data protection and employee information Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Employment resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Employment contract Supreme Court reinstates High Court injunction preventing Tesco from ‘firing and rehiring’ employees on less favourable terms. In Tesco Stores Ltd v Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) [2024] UKSC 28, the Supreme Court, unanimously and led by Lord Burrows and Lady Simler, upheld the High Court’s stance, reviving the injunction that bars Tesco from dismissing staff in order to strip them of a ‘permanent’ contractual entitlement to retained pay, then proposing re‑engagement without it. An implied term in the contracts curtailed Tesco’s ability to rely on dismissal rights for that end. Commentary on the ruling is provided by Neil Todd of Thompsons Solicitors; Jonathan Chamberlain and Connie Cliff of Gowling WLG; Philip Harman...

In this edition: Employment contract Pay Protected characteristics Prohibited conduct (discrimination etc) Prohibited conduct protection at work Equality of terms (equal pay) Employment Appeal Tribunal Governance and regulatory Immigration Dates for your diary Trackers New Q&As Employment resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Employment contract UKSC upholds claimants’ appeal and restores injunction in Tesco ‘fire and rehire’ case In Tesco Stores Ltd v Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) [2024] UKSC 28, Tesco moved to end employees’ contracts to remove their ‘retained pay’—a contractual financial entitlement accepted as permanent—and to offer re-engagement on new terms excluding that pay. Working with the union, USDAW, several employees obtained a High Court injunction restraining Tesco from dismissing them in order to take away the retained pay entitlement. The Court of Appeal, however, allowed Tesco’s appeal against that order. The Supreme Court has since backed the claimants’ appeal and...

On 7 April 2026, Dyson secured an interim injunction against Chinese rival Dreame after the UPC tribunal held that the ‘Dazzle’ hair styler infringed Dyson’s patent, compelling a suspension of sales throughout all UPC Member States and Spain. The Hamburg Local Division explained that including Spain (despite it not being a UPC Member State) was warranted because Dreame’s EU-based importer was actively putting the goods on the Spanish market, thereby creating a sufficiently close jurisdictional connection to hear the claims together under EU jurisdictional rules. The panel, chaired by Sabine Klepsch, declined to stretch the order to the UK. Citing the UK–EU Windsor Framework, under which certain EU product safety requirements still apply in Northern Ireland and oblige non‑EU manufacturers to appoint an EU-based representative to place goods there, Dyson argued this regulatory nexus tied UK sales to the EU and could ground UPC jurisdiction. The judges disagreed, concluding those provisions are principally intended to smooth trade between Northern Ireland and the EU, not to create an adequate legal link...

Consumer protection legislation applies to businesses generally and to the regulated financial services sector This Practice Note explores the obligations on firms authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000) (herein referred to as ‘firms’) to comply with a central element of consumer protection law, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015), together with its predecessor, the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, SI 1999/2083 (UTCCRs). In addition to these statutory duties, firms must follow the FCA’s regulatory rules and take account of guidance relevant to unfair contract terms. Under the CRA 2015, the FCA may challenge firms regarding the fairness and/or transparency of contractual terms and notices in financial services consumer contracts (whether in standard form or individually negotiated) entered into from 1 October 2015. Under the UTCCRs, the FCA may challenge firms regarding the fairness or transparency of contractual terms in standard form financial services contracts entered into before 1 October 2015. ...

This Practice Note outlines the options open to landowners faced with unlawful occupation by a trespasser or squatter, the issues that can follow from trespass, and the potential measures the owner may pursue, including physical repossession. It considers the Criminal Law Act 1977 (CLA 1977) and the exception for displaced residential occupiers, the use of police powers to arrest where suitable, the effect of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO 2012) in criminalising residential squatting, injunctions and interim injunctions, and damages, including the negotiating damages approach, mesne profits, exemplary and aggravated damages, anticipated damages, and res judicata defences. The ways a landowner can recover possession from a trespasser include: physical repossession arrest of the trespasser by the police for a criminal offence injunction possession claim (including a claim for an interim possession order) Beyond the remedies available to recover possession, a landowner may also claim damages for the trespass. Such claims may involve negotiating damages,...

This Practice Note This Practice Note examines how standard essential patents (SEPs) and fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing feature in patent disputes before the Courts of England and Wales (the English Courts). It focuses, in particular, on the legal position following the UK Supreme Court’s ruling of 26 August 2020 in the combined Unwired Planet and Conversant appeals, and the practical consequences of that decision. For further information, see News Analysis: Supreme Court—English courts can determine terms of global licences for portfolios of standard essential patents (Unwired Planet v Huawei). Since then, two further significant rulings on FRAND rates have been issued in England and Wales and have been the subject of appeal judgments, as noted below: First, judgment was handed down on 16 March 2023 in the dispute between InterDigital and Lenovo following a High Court FRAND trial in January 2022. It offered additional guidance on several of the issues considered in Unwired Planet. The appeal judgment in InterDigital v Lenovo was handed...

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE, BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES, KINGS’S BENCH DIVISION, COMMERCIAL COURT before [ The Honourable Mr Justice OR The Honourable Mrs Justice ] [ insert name of judge ] (in private session) Claim No. [ insert claim number ] between: [ insert name(s) ] as Claimant(s)/Applicant(s) and [ insert name(s) ] as Defendant(s)/Respondent(s) [ The Claimant(s) and Defendant(s) in an Intended Action ] DRAFT FREEZING ORDER PENAL NOTICE If you, [ insert name of respondent(s) ], do not comply with this order, you risk being found in contempt of court and could face imprisonment, a fine, or confiscation of assets. Anyone else with knowledge of this order who assists or allows the Respondent to contravene it may likewise be found in contempt and be imprisoned, fined, or have their assets taken. 1 THIS ORDER 1.1 By order of Mrs/Mr Justice [ ] on [ ], this Freezing Injunction is granted against [ ] (‘the...

This overview offers general guidance on injunctions in the family courts to protect against domestic abuse. Your family lawyer can provide specific advice tailored to your situation. Family homes and domestic abuse If you are facing violence, threats or intimidation, you can apply to the family courts for an injunction to help protect you. There are two types of injunction: a non-molestation order, and an occupation order What is a non-molestation order? A non-molestation order restrains your partner or spouse from using or threatening violence against you or your children, or from intimidating, harassing or pestering you. It can include detailed provisions tailored to the particular behaviour affecting you. Who can apply? To seek a non-molestation order you must be an associated person, as defined in the relevant legislation. This includes current and former spouses, civil partners and cohabitants, as well as fiancé(e)s, relatives, people living in the same household, the parents of children in the home, and...

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES KING’S BENCH DIVISION COMMERCIAL COURT Before [ The Honourable Mr Justice OR The Honourable Mrs Justice ] [ insert name of judge ] (heard in private) Claim No. [ insert claim number ] Between: [ insert name(s) ] Claimant(s)/Applicant(s) and [ insert name(s) ] Claimant(s)/Respondent(s) [ The Claimant(s) and Defendant(s) in an Intended Action ] _______________________________________ DRAFT FREEZING ORDER _______________________________________ PENAL NOTICE If you [ insert name of respondent(s) ] fail to comply with this order, you could be found in contempt of court and risk imprisonment, a fine, or confiscation of assets. Any person who is aware of this order and does anything to assist or allow the Respondent to contravene it may likewise be found in contempt of court and could be imprisoned, fined, or have their assets taken by the court as a sanction. 1 THIS ORDER ...

No particular claim form applies to proceedings that include a request for final injunctive relief. The standard factors for selecting the suitable claim form, as described in CPR 8.1, still apply. The principal question is usually whether the court will need to resolve a material factual dispute in order to determine the claim. While the Part 8 route may look simpler, opting for it can be tempting but, in practice, often results in increased costs and delay where the Part 7 procedure is more appropriate...

Where a tenant breaches a keep open clause, a landlord’s principal remedy is damages, in the ordinary course of things, rather than an injunction, specific performance, or forfeiture. Courts are ordinarily disinclined to oversee compliance with keep open clauses, since they regard compelling a tenant to meet this duty as more burdensome and expensive than any loss incurred by the landlord...