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RDG
online Restitution Discussion Group Archives |
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In the absence of a cross-undertaking, a person against
whom an interim injunction is granted has no claim to recover compensatory
damages for loss suffered during the currency of the injunction if the
injunction is discharged at trial. But can he claim instead for restitution
of benefits accruing to the other party which the other would not have
enjoyed, if the injunction had not been granted? No, says Lewison J in
Smithkline
Beecham plc v Apotex Europe Ltd [2005] EWHC 1655 (Ch) [74]-[79].
At [76]
he reasons:
Suppose that during the currency of the injunction GSK
had made profits of, say, £2 million in selling Seroxat to a multiple
pharmacist. Part of the profit would have been due to the effect of the
injunction in enabling GSK to keep up the price of its branded product.
Suppose that, absent the injunction, Apotex would have sold paroxetine
to the same pharmacist, but at reduced prices such that it would have
earned profits of £1 million. Apotex does not claim £2 million
(which is GSK's benefit). It only claims £1 million which is its
own claimed lost profit. In other words, the claim is not measured by
GSK's gain (which is the hallmark of a restitutionary claim); but by Apotex's
own loss (which is the hallmark of a claim for damages). Apotex's own
loss, moreover, is not the loss of some identifiable piece of property,
but simply the loss of an opportunity to compete in the market. This is
quite different to the power of an appeal court, on reversing a judgment
of a lower court, to order the repayment of money paid under a judgment
that has been set aside. The payment of such monies, or the return of
property transferred under an order that is later set aside, could be
enforced through a writ of restitution; but that is not the same as a
restitutionary claim, as that concept has developed in the modern law.
CM
Professor Charles Mitchell tel: 020 7848 2290 <== Previous message Back to index Next message ==> |
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