Also known as: legal remedies · remedy · remedies
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A judicial means of redressing a wrong or enforcing a right. It consists of court-ordered relief such as an award of money damages or an order for recovery of possession that is available under controlling statutes or common law.
Luke Latham owns an apartment building. After his tenant's lease ends, the tenant remains in possession without permission. Latham files an action in the local court seeking a judgment that restores possession to him under the statute authorizing judicial recovery of leased property from holdover tenants.
The city of Metropolis enacts a contracting program that reserves a percentage of public works contracts for minority-owned businesses. The program is justified by evidence of specific past discrimination against those businesses in the local construction industry. A disappointed bidder challenges the program, and the court applies strict scrutiny to determine whether the set-aside constitutes a permissible legal remedy for the identified discrimination.
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Lola Langley contracts to purchase custom machinery from a manufacturer. Before the delivery date the manufacturer repudiates the contract. Langley notifies the manufacturer that she will await performance but later elects to treat the repudiation as a breach and sues for damages under the UCC provisions governing remedies for breach.
Leonard Lowe obtains a custody decree in State B. The child is later taken to State A. Lowe petitions the State A court to enforce the decree. The court issues an order directing return of the child, exercising its authority to apply any remedy available under State A law to enforce the foreign custody determination.
Lance Lee and Lucas Lee form a partnership. Their agreement imposes reasonable limits on use of confidential information obtained under the partnership statute and provides that a breach will result in liquidated damages. When one partner violates the restriction, the other seeks the contractually defined damages as the remedy for the breach.
Liam Larson promises to convey land to Lola Langley in exchange for her promise to care for his elderly parent. Langley quits her job and moves in reliance on the promise. When Larson refuses to convey, the court enforces the promise despite the statute of frauds but limits the remedy to the minimum relief necessary to prevent injustice.
A legal remedy is adequate when an award of money damages will fully compensate the injured party. Courts refuse equitable relief such as specific performance or injunction when damages can be calculated with reasonable certainty and collected.
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Yes. Under the UCC a party may still resort to any remedy for breach even after notifying the repudiating party that performance will be awaited and urging retraction.
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Yes. When controlling law supplies a speedy judicial remedy for recovery of possession from a holdover tenant, neither the landlord nor an incoming tenant may resort to self-help unless the law expressly preserves that right.
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Yes. The remedies in the Act are cumulative and do not affect the availability of other remedies under state law to enforce a child-custody determination made by another state.
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Yes. A partnership agreement may impose reasonable restrictions on the use of information obtained under the statute and may define appropriate remedies, including liquidated damages, for breach of those restrictions.
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…by the principles and usages of law.' It is a general principle that a mandamus lies if there be no other adequate, specific, legal remedy. The writ is of extensive remedial nature and issues where the party has a right to have anything done and no other specific means of compelling its performance. Many English cases…