The claimant sought an injunction expressed to be against unknown persons.
Held: Morgan J expressed a degree of concern about orders having this effect, but concluded that (particularly in light of the South Cambridgeshire decision) this procedure was now open to claimants in cases outside section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990: ‘ I was concerned at the idea that the court might be asked to grant a quia timet injunction against persons who had not yet committed the acts which the injunction would prevent them from doing but yet they would be defined as defendants as Persons Unknown who have committed such acts. For example, the First Defendants are defined as Persons Unknown entering or remaining on specified areas of land but when the proceedings were issued and the ex parte injunctions were granted, no one had entered on the specified land as a trespasser (subject to the possibility that there might have been a trespass on Site 1). Proceeding in this way would seem to produce the result that at the time when the court made its order there were no persons within the defined category of Persons Unknown. How then, later, did some persons come within that category and become subject to the court’s order? Did they become parties by their unilateral action which was action forbidden by the court’s order?’
Judges:
Morgan J
Citations:
[2017] EWHC 2945 (Ch)
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – South Cambridgeshire District Council v Gammell CA 2005
The Council had taken out an injunction under section 187B of the 1990 Act to prevent unknown persons placing caravans on certain lands. The defendants acted in breach of those injunctions, and the Council requested their committal for contempt. The . .
Cited by:
Cited – Vastint Leeds Bv v Persons Unknown ChD 24-Sep-2018
The claimant company sought a final injunction to prevent others occupying its land in Leeds. It was a quia timet injunction anticipating future acts of occupation by caravans, fly-tipping and use of the land for illegal raves.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land, Litigation Practice
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.601822