Also known as: equitable reliefs · equitable remedy · equitable remedies
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A category of judicial remedies granted when monetary damages are inadequate to redress a wrong. These remedies include injunctions, specific performance, subrogation, and reformation. They operate by compelling or prohibiting conduct rather than awarding a sum of money.
Edith Eberhardt, a director of Elemental Pharmaceuticals, learns of a promising drug license. She discloses the opportunity to the board before pursuing it and the qualified directors disclaim the corporation's interest. When a shareholder later sues seeking to enjoin her from taking the license, the court denies relief because the statutory safe harbor applies.
Ezra Eastman pays off the mortgage on property owned by Emerald Enterprises after the company defaults. The mortgagee records a satisfaction, but Ezra demands assignment of the lien. The court grants subrogation, allowing Ezra to enforce the mortgage against the property to prevent the company from receiving an unearned windfall.
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Ewan Eckhart sues federal agents after an unlawful search. He seeks an injunction barring further warrantless entries into his home. The court issues the injunction because monetary damages alone cannot prevent ongoing violations of constitutional rights.
Esther Eisenberg sues J. I. Case Co. over misleading proxy materials used to approve a merger. She requests an order setting aside the merger vote. The court grants equitable relief because the federal statute implies a private right to prevent the tainted transaction from taking effect.
The government seeks an injunction against the New York Times to stop publication of classified documents. The court refuses the order because prior restraint on speech requires an extraordinarily heavy justification that the government has not met.
Eileen Epstein sues for breach of a land-sale contract and requests specific performance. The court grants the decree because the unique nature of real property makes monetary damages an inadequate substitute for the promised conveyance.
A court grants equitable relief only when monetary damages are inadequate to make the plaintiff whole. This occurs with unique property, ongoing harm, or when damages cannot be calculated with reasonable certainty.
No. A valid liquidated damages clause does not bar specific performance or an injunction if the court would otherwise grant that relief. The clause merely provides an alternative measure of damages.
Subrogation prevents unjust enrichment by assigning a paid obligation and its security to the payor by operation of law. It allows the payor to step into the shoes of the original creditor without discharging the underlying lien.
…specific complaints, some of them, or even many of them, may be found to be clearly arbitrary and unreasonable. But where the equitable remedy of injunction is sought, as it is here, not upon the ground of a present infringement or denial of a specific right, or of a particular injury in process of actual execution, but upon the…