Hong Kong injunctions balanced striking dock worker, landowner rights
Hogan Lovells lawyers explain that the court orders against striking stevedores balanced the right to protest with the rights of landowners
During the recent 40-day dock-workers strike, owners of the Kwai Chung Container Terminal and the Cheung Kong Centre applied to the Court for interlocutory injunctions to restrict named and unnamed individuals from demonstrating on their land. In both cases, injunctions were granted, although in more limited terms than originally requested because the court had to weigh the rights of private property owners to enjoy their land against the constitutional and statutory rights of individuals to demonstrate.
An interlocutory injunction is a temporary remedy, imposed in urgent cases to preserve the status quo between parties until a time when the dispute between them can be heard.
Since the injunction is imposed at a time when the court has not fully heard the parties' cases, it cannot be granted lightly - a strict test is applied. A judge must first establish that the dispute between the parties involves a serious issue to be tried. Second, it must be the case that the usual remedy of a payment of damages after determination of the full case would be inadequate, and finally, the court must be satisfied that the balance of convenience would be best served by granting the temporary injunction.
