In Homes of England Ltd v Horsham Holdings Ltd & Ors [2020] EWHC 1175 (Ch), Zachary Kell, instructed by Morgan LaRoche, represented the Eighth and Eleventh Respondents to an application for an interim injunction restraining the payment of £500,000.00 heard before Peter Knox QC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge. Whilst the court found there was a serious issue to be tried, the court was persuaded that there would be a real risk of injustice should an order be made in the terms sought by the Applicant and that the cross-undertaking it offered was unsatisfactory. Instead, the court permitted the payment and used its powers under s.37(2) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 and its inherent equitable jurisdiction to order the Respondents to provide indemnities as a condition of the same.
This case is an interesting example of the court using its power to order an indemnity in the context of an interim injunction, a power recognised in general by the leading case of Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd [1897] A.C. 22 and more recently discussed by Mostyn J in CH v. WH (Financial Provision: Approval of Consent Order) [2017] 4 WLR 178.
The full text of the judgment can be found here.