A. L. K. Corp. v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

Courts consider four things when ruling on preliminary injunctions. (There is a circuit split on whether the four considerations are prerequisites, as in the Fifth Circuit, or whether a strong showing on one of the considerations can make up for a less strong showing on another, as in the Ninth Circuit.)

One of the considerations is “irreparable harm,” which occurs when money cannot remediate the damage done. Such a situation might occur when the injury is nearly impossible to quantify; more commonly, the issue is that a life or limb will be (or might reasonably be in danger of being) lost, or that there is some legal bar to after-the-fact monetary recovery. There may be other injuries for which money damages are inadequate or impracticable to quantify (for example, a work of art), but ALK Corporation demonstrates the black letter law here, which is that courts are reluctant to embrace the “non-quantifiable” argument. Note how the court deals with the plaintiff’s argument that “theatre momentum” is a real but non-quantifiable asset.