Decision Diagnostics Corp (DECN)

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B. Restitution of Benefits

In several decisions, the Supreme Court has recognized the right to restitution of money paid in accordance with a judgment that was subsequently reversed.3 ° Section 74 of the Restatement of Restitution summarizes this line of cases by stating that "a person who has conferred a benefit upon another in compliance with a judgment, or whose property has been taken thereunder, is entitled to restitution if the judgment is reversed or set aside." This rule applies to wrongfully-issued prelimi-nary injunctions as well, and the prevailing view is that such claims of restitution are not capped by the amount of the bond.31

U.S. courts consider the possibility of awarding restitutionary remedies for wrongfully-issued preliminary injunctions in two main types of cases. The first type involves benefits obtained by restraining the defendant from competing with the plaintiff. It consists,for instance, of cases in which a preliminary injunction was issued to protect a patent that is eventually declared invalid, thus providing the plaintiff with an unwarranted monopoly status during the litigation. Similarly, benefits are sometimes derived from postponing the completion of a project that would have adversely affected the plaintiffs interests. Courts have systematically rejected attempts by defendants to obtain restitution of such benefits.40 They reason that a plaintiff who has benefitted from a wrongfully-issued restraining order is not considered as acting "wrong- fully," at least for the purpose of the law of unjust enrichment.4'


http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1953&context=sulr