Harjai v Fraser

Harjai (the appellant) sought an interlocutory injunction to prevent the sale of certain goods pending an appeal against a trial judge's decision that rejected the appellant's claim of ownership over those goods. The application for the injunction was refused by a single judge, and the appellant then applied to vary that order. The matter came before the Court of Appeal of New South Wales, constituted by Basten, Macfarlan and Meagher JJA.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine whether the appellant had demonstrated a sufficient likelihood of success on appeal to warrant the grant of an interlocutory injunction. Specifically, the court considered whether the appellant had shown that the trial judge had erred in rejecting the claim of ownership, whether there were reasonable prospects of success on appeal, and whether the appellant would suffer prejudice if the injunction were not granted.

The Court of Appeal reasoned that the appellant had failed to demonstrate that the trial judge's decision was affected by error. In the absence of such a demonstration, and without evidence of irreparable prejudice that could not be adequately compensated by an award of damages, the court concluded that the threshold for granting an interlocutory injunction had not been met. The principles applied focused on the need for a strong prima facie case or a serious question to be tried, coupled with an assessment of the balance of convenience, which in this instance favoured refusing the injunction.

The Notice of Motion filed by the appellant was dismissed, and the appellant was ordered to pay the respondents' costs of the application.