Injunctions and Emergency Orders

There are some dispute situations where an urgent need for relief exists; where irreparable harm will result if the usual court or arbitral procedure is applied. The civil litigation process in Canada provides powerful pre-trial remedies to combat fraud and protect your property, your good name, and your data. These court orders can also aid in circumstances involving infringement of intellectual property rights, and situations where the preservation of evidence and assets is crucial.

Billington Barristers has a wealth of experience acting on behalf of plaintiffs, defendants, and as court-appointed Independent Supervising Solicitors. We understand the legal requirements and we have the proven track record to determine how to best deal with situations requiring an injunction or emergency order. Richard Billington, K.C. has nationally recognized knowledge and capability in obtaining and defending applications for injunctive relief and other “extraordinary remedies” including:

• Injunctions – Emergency orders to prevent imminent irreparable harm or to force compliance with legal obligations.
• Anton Piller Orders – Used to secure entry to businesses, residences, or other places to preserve evidence (including electronic evidence) when there is a risk that it may be destroyed.
• Mareva Injunctions – Used to ensure assets remain in the jurisdiction of the court and are not destroyed or wasted.
• Norwich Pharmacal Orders – Used to ensure that evidence in the hands of third parties (particularly banks or internet service providers) will be preserved and turned over to the plaintiff for use in litigation.

Billington Barristers has utilized these remedies in many situations, including against sophisticated businesses involved in software piracy, to protect against the removal of assets from the province, and to investigate and halt internet defamation by wrongdoers hiding behind pseudonyms. Richard Billington, K.C. has successfully acted for defendants who were wrongfully accused of breaching trade secrets or non-competition agreements, and who were the targets of Anton Piller Orders and other injunctions.

Independent Supervising Solicitor

Canadian law requires that law firms acting for plaintiffs in Anton Piller Orders must employ the services of an Independent Supervising Solicitor to act as a neutral officer of the court to explain the court’s order to the defendant, to supervise the search for and seizure of evidence from the defendant, to objectively report to the court and to aid the court and counsel for all parties in technical matters. Richard Billington, K.C. has been appointed as Independent Supervising Solicitor by both the Federal Court and the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. He has acted in that capacity in a copyright violation action where an Anton Piller Order resulted in the seizure of massive amounts of computer data from a software developer, and in another action in which an employee stole hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash from his employer. Mr. Billington was appointed by the Ontario Court of Justice to serve as an advisor to a law firm acting as Independent Supervising Solicitor in a major ongoing case involving an alleged misappropriation of confidential information.