Quick questions on Civil remedies: damages and injunctions: VCE Legal Studies

The plaintiff in a civil action seeks to be restored to the position they would have been in had the wrong not occurred. The Latin label is restitutio in integrum (restoration to the whole). The court awards a remedy that approximates this objective as closely as the law allows.

Damages are monetary compensation. The court orders the defendant to pay the plaintiff a sum.

An injunction is a court order requiring a party to do or refrain from doing a particular act. Equitable in origin.

In addition to damages and injunctions at common law and equity, statutes provide a wide range of specific civil remedies:

The remedy a plaintiff seeks depends on the nature of the harm. Where the loss is complete and quantifiable (repair costs, lost income, a quantified personal injury), damages are the natural remedy because money can approximate restitutio in integrum. Where the harm is ongoing or threatened (continued breach of a contract, repeated publication, a nuisance that has not yet caused full loss), an injunction is the better fit because it operates on the conduct itself rather than compensating after the fact. The two remedies are not mutually exclusive: a plaintiff can seek damages for losses already suffered and an injunction to prevent further loss in the same proceeding.

Designed to restore the plaintiff. Two heads:

Awarded where the defendant's conduct increased the plaintiff's injury (e.g. by humiliation or insult). Compensatory in nature.

Punitive. Awarded where the defendant's conduct was so outrageous that the court wishes to mark its disapproval and deter similar conduct. Not available in personal injury claims governed by Part VBA of the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic).

A small sum awarded where the plaintiff has proved a wrong but suffered no loss. Vindicates the plaintiff's rights.

A trivial sum awarded where the court considers the action technically valid but ought not to have been brought.

Restrains the defendant from doing something (e.g. publishing defamatory material, breaching a restraint of trade).

Compels the defendant to do something (e.g. demolish a structure that infringes a neighbour's rights).

Temporary, granted before trial to preserve the status quo. The plaintiff must show a serious question to be tried and that the balance of convenience favours the grant (Australian Broadcasting Corporation v O'Neill (2006) 227 CLR 57).

Granted at the conclusion of the trial as a final remedy.