Private Law Theory

INTRODUCTION
Quia timet injunctions are an established weapon in the courts’ arsenal of remedies to deal with potential invasions of the claimant’s legal rights. The typical scenario is that the defendant is engaging in activity that likely presents a significant risk of tortious interference with the claimant’s rights. Instead of waiting for the wrong to occur and seeking an injunction to restrain a reoccurrence, the claimant may apply for a precautionary injunction to restrain any wrong from being committed. Professor Berryman has described precautionary injunctions as ‘the legal expression of the aphorism “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”’. There is no formulaic test for granting these injunctions. In the principal cases, courts have emphasized the likelihood of the wrong being committed and the probable extent of the damage if it occurs …

David Capper, ‘Newcomer’ Injunctions – Quia Timet Plus, 85 Louisiana Law Review 823 (2025).