Buckenara v Hawthorn Football Club Ltd [1988] VR 39
Contract; remedies for breach; injunction to prevent threatened breach.
Facts: Buckenara was a football player contracted to play for the Hawthorn Football Club. As part of the agreement, Buckenara promised not to play for any competing club while contracted to play for Hawthorn. When it seemed that Buckenara intended to play for a competing club, Hawthorn sought an injunction to prevent the threatened breach of contract.
Issue: Would the court issue an injunction to prevent a breach of contract?
Decision: The court issued an injunction ordering Buckenara not to play for any other club that was in competition with Hawthorn.
Reason: An injunction is an order issued to prevent a likely breach of the law, including a threatened breach of contract. However, an injunction will not be issued if it has the indirect effect of enforcing a contractual promise that the court would be reluctant to enforce directly by an order of specific performance (e.g., performance of a promise to render personal services). In this case, the court was prepared to issue the injunction sought because preventing Buckenara from playing for competing clubs would not indirectly force him to actually play football for Hawthorn - he could earn his living in some other way if he wished to.
Note: The same principle was applied in Warner Bros Pictures Inc v Nelson [1937] 1 KB 209.