When Injunctions Go Wrong: Discontinuance and Indemnity Costs

Anya Newman recently secured an indemnity costs order for the respondent in a case involving a discontinued injunction application.

The Applicant, a property developer, had applied for an urgent injunction that would have required the destruction of the Respondent’s established garden and significantly reduced the value of her property. After months of pre-action correspondence, the Applicant issued the application without a claim form, then discontinued five months later, seeking to avoid the usual costs consequences.

The Court ordered the Applicant to pay the Respondent’s costs on the indemnity basis, finding their conduct “out of the norm” and wholly unreasonable. Key factors included:

• Issuing proceedings before the deadline given to respond to a warning letter
• Pursuing an urgent injunction where an ongoing boundary dispute had been at pre-action stage with no substantive change for months
• Failing to issue a claim form despite the application being five months old at discontinuance

Anya was instructed by Kristy Ainge of Talbots Law.