How and When to Use Equitable Remedies

When it comes to law, and suing for damages in a business, commercial litigation or construction law case, the question isn’t just whether you can win–it’s what you can win or be awarded, if you are successful.

In most cases, we sue for money–not because it’s the cure for every ill, but because it’s the best we have, and in business cases, our losses when a law is broken are often measured in dollars.

But that’s not always the case. Sometimes, we ask the court for what is known as an equitable remedy.

Legal and Equitable Remedies

Confusingly enough, a remedy in law, or a legal remedy, is just money. When you have a legal remedy, it means that there is some amount of money that could make you whole, or compensate you fully for losses, if awarded to you by a judge or jury.

But an equitable remedy asks for something different–it asks the court to do something, or to demand that the other side in the lawsuit be compelled to do something.

Equitable remedies might include:

• Partition actions, where you are asking a court to compel a party to sell and divide property, or a business
• Actions to dissolve a company involuntarily
• Requesting that the sale of property or an item be fulfilled; that is, compelling the forced sale of property to the prospective buyer
• Accounting actions, which ask for the court to allow a party to review the other side’s books and records
• Recission of a contract, which is just “taking back” or “undoing” the contract and putting the parties in the position that they were, had the contract never been executed
• Reforming a contract, which is asking a court to re-write confusing, illegal, or ambiguous terms of an agreement.
• Asking for an injunction, to stop someone from engaging in alleged illegal behavior.

You cannot compel someone to work for you, so contracts that entail a party doing a service, or performing some sort of work, cannot be the subject of equitable relief.

No Legal Relief Available

Generally, you only get equitable relief only where legal relief (again, money), won’t be sufficient to compensate you, or where money won’t do what you need done, or where there is no way to determine, monetarily, what your losses might be.

So, as an example, in an accounting, you’re asking the court to allow a party to review books and records from the other side, to evaluate what losses or damages might be. This often happens when a party has no idea what was stolen, or taken, or what losses might be. You would need the accounting, because there is no ready way to tell exactly what monetary (legal) losses are.

Uniqueness in an Item

Sometimes, there is uniqueness involved, so money can’t replace that item or loss.

For example, if a former employee breaks a noncompete agreement and takes your customer lists to a new employer/competitor, you have no idea what your monetary losses might be exactly–that customer list is special and unique and has ongoing, immeasurable value.

But you can ask for an injunction preventing the now-former employee from continuing to violate the noncompete agreement.

Have you been wronged by a business transaction? Call our Fort Lauderdale business attorneys at Sweeney Law P.A. at 954-440-3993 for help.