Category: Damages

Midco Holdings Ltd and Another v Piper: CA 6 Apr 2004

Where a defendant in a deceit claim, or in a negligence claim, contends that the claimant must give credit against its losses for financial benefits which are alleged to have resulted from the tort, the evidential burden rests on the defendant to show that the claimant has received the benefit.

Judges:

Tuckey LJ

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 476

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Cheltenham Borough Council v Laird QBD 15-Jun-2009
The council sought damages saying that their former chief executive had not disclosed her history of depressive illness when applying for her job.
Held: The replies were not dishonest as the form could have been misconstrued. The claim failed. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Damages

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.195903

Maharaj v Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago (No 2): PC 27 Feb 1978

(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant barrister has been convicted of contempt. The Board had previously found the conviction improper because the basis of the complaint had not been made clear to him. The appellant now sought damages for his imprisonment.
Held: The Board referred to the risks of erroneous judicial decisions: ‘The fundamental human right is not to a legal system that is infallible but to one that is fair’. There was no right of appeal to the Court of Appeal from an order of a judge of the High Court finding a person guilty of contempt of court and ordering him to be punished for it.

Judges:

Diplock, Hailsham of St Marylebone, Salmon, Keith of Kinkell LL

Citations:

[1979] AC 385, [1978] UKPC 3, [1978] 2 All ER 670, [1978] Crim LR 355

Links:

Bailii

Citing:

See also – Maharaj v Attorney General for Trinidad and Tobago PC 11-Oct-1976
A judge of the High Court had committed the barrister appellant to prison for seven days for contempt in the face of the court. The barrister was granted special leave to appeal to the Board against the committal order.
Held: Allowing the . .

Cited by:

Cited – Boodhoo, Jagram, (suing on behalf of themselves and the Sanatan Dharma Sudhar Sadha) v The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago PC 1-Apr-2004
PC (Trinidad and Tobago) The complainant said that his constitutional rights had been infringed by the court’s delay. Proceedings had begun in 1987 for redress with regard to a land dispute. There was substantial . .
See also – Maharaj v Attorney General for Trinidad and Tobago PC 11-Oct-1976
A judge of the High Court had committed the barrister appellant to prison for seven days for contempt in the face of the court. The barrister was granted special leave to appeal to the Board against the committal order.
Held: Allowing the . .
Cited – The Attorney General for St Christopher and Nevis v Rodionov PC 20-Jul-2004
(St. Christopher and Nevis) The government of Canada requested the extradition of the respondent. The Attorney General sought special leave to appeal against the order for his discharge from custody, which had been on the grounds of the prejudice . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Commonwealth, Contempt of Court, Damages

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.195702

Hickey and others v Independent Assessor: CA 25 Feb 2004

Application for leave to appeal on measure of award of compensation for long time spent in prison as a result of miscarriage of justice.

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 340

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 1988 133

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Regina (on the Application of O’Brien, Hickey, Hickey) v Independent Assessor QBD 16-Apr-2003
The claimants were to be awarded damages for having been wrongly imprisoned for many years. The respondent was to calculate the award. They complained that he had refused to particularise the award to identify and itemise non-pecuniary loss.

Cited by:

Application for leave – Independent Assessor v O’Brien, Hickey, Hickey CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimants had been imprisoned for many years before their convictions were quashed. They claimed compensation under the Act. The assessor said that there should be deducted from the award the living expenses they would have incurred if they had . .
Leave to appeal to CA – O’Brien and others v Independent Assessor HL 14-Mar-2007
The claimants had been wrongly imprisoned for a murder they did not commit. The assessor had deducted from their compensation a sum to represent the living costs they would have incurred if living freely. They also appealed differences from a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Prisons

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.195528

Mawdsley v Guardian Newspapers Ltd: QBD 2002

The court asked whether the summary judgment procedure under sections 8 to 10 of the 1996 Act, with its ceiling of andpound;10,000, was appropriate in a case in which a jury after a trial might award andpound;30,000. He decided that it was appropriate. A claimant in defamation has the same duty as any other victim of a tort to mitigate his losses. An admission by the defendant might attract a substantial discount in the damages to be awarded.

Judges:

Morland J

Citations:

[2002] EWHC 1780 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Defamation At 1996 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Nail v Jones, Harper Collins Publications Ltd; Nail v News Group Newspapers Ltd, Wade etc QBD 26-Mar-2004
The claimant was upset by an article published by the defendant making false allegations that he had behaved in a sexually profligate manner many years earlier. When it was substantially repeated he sued.
Held: The words were defamatory. An . .
Cited – Nail and Another v News Group Newspapers Ltd and others CA 20-Dec-2004
The claimant appealed the award of damages in his claim for defamation. The defendants had variously issued apologies. The claimant had not complained initially as to one publication.
Held: In defamation proceedings the damage to feelings is . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation, Damages

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.195003

McLoughlin v Jones; McLoughlin v Grovers (a Firm): CA 2002

In deciding whether a duty of care is established the court must go to the ‘battery of tests which the House of Lords has taught us to use’, namely: ‘. . the ‘purpose’ test (Banque Bruxelles Lambert SA v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd); the ‘assumption of responsibility’ test (Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Ltd); the ‘principles of distributive justice’ test (Frost v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police); and the ‘three-pronged’ test (Caparo Industries plc v Dickman). The fact that these tests are usually deployed in cases involving pure financial loss does not mean that they are inappropriate for use when the only damage in question is psychiatric illness’.
David Steel J considered the proper approach to preliminary isues: ‘In my judgement, the right approach to preliminary issues should be as follows: (a) Only issues which are decisive or potentially decisive should be identified. (b) The questions should usually be questions of law. (c) They should be decided on the basis of a schedule of agreed or assumed facts. (d) They should be triable without significant delay, making full allowance for the implications of a possible appeal. (e) Any order should be made by the court following a case management conference.’

Judges:

Brooke LJ, David Steel J

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1743, [2002] 2 WLR 1279, [2002] QB 1312, [2002] PNLR 2, [2002] PIQR P20

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – South Australia Asset Management Corporation v York Montague Ltd etc HL 24-Jun-1996
Limits of Damages for Negligent Valuations
Damages for negligent valuations are limited to the foreseeable consequences of advice, and do not include losses arising from a general fall in values. Valuation is seldom an exact science, and within a band of figures valuers may differ without . .
Cited – Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Ltd HL 25-Jul-1994
Lloyds Agents Owe Care Duty to Member; no Contract
Managing agents conducted the financial affairs of the Lloyds Names belonging to the syndicates under their charge. It was alleged that they managed these affairs with a lack of due careleading to enormous losses.
Held: The assumption of . .
Cited – White, Frost and others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and others HL 3-Dec-1998
No damages for Psychiatric Harm Alone
The House considered claims by police officers who had suffered psychiatric injury after tending the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy.
Held: The general rules restricting the recovery of damages for pure psychiatric harm applied to the . .
Cited – Caparo Industries Plc v Dickman and others HL 8-Feb-1990
Limitation of Loss from Negligent Mis-statement
The plaintiffs sought damages from accountants for negligence. They had acquired shares in a target company and, relying upon the published and audited accounts which overstated the company’s earnings, they purchased further shares.
Held: The . .
Cited – Walker v Northumberland County Council QBD 16-Nov-1994
The plaintiff was a manager within the social services department. He suffered a mental breakdown in 1986, and had four months off work. His employers had refused to provide the increased support he requested. He had returned to work, but again, did . .

Cited by:

Cited – AB and others v Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust QBD 26-Mar-2004
Representative claims were made against the respondents, hospitals, pathologists etc with regard to the removal of organs from deceased children without the informed consent of the parents. They claimed under the tort of wrongful interference.
Cited – Bella Casa Ltd v Vinestone Ltd and others TCC 9-Dec-2005
. .
See Also – Mcloughlin v Jones and others CA 5-Jul-2006
. .
Cited – Calvert v William Hill Credit Ltd ChD 12-Mar-2008
The claimant said that the defendant bookmakers had been negligent in allowing him to continue betting when they should have known that he was acting under an addiction. The defendant company had a policy for achieving responsible gambling, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Damages, Negligence

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.195016

International Traders Ferry Ltd v Adur District Council: CA 26 Feb 2004

The council served a stop notice. The company sought compensation. The council replied that the company had no legal or equitable interest in the land affected.
Held: The company had occupied the land under a licence. A contractual licensee on land may be, but is not necessarily, an occupier.

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 288, Times 01-Mar-2004

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Town and Country Planning (General) Regulations 1992 2, Town and Country Planning Act 1990 186

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Per incuriam – Pennine Raceway Ltd v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council CA 1983
The claimant had been granted a contractual right to use an airfield for arranging motor racing events. The planning consent was revoked, and compensation was claimed under s164 as ‘a person interested in the land’ which ‘is a section designed to . .
Cited – Plimmer v Mayor, Councillors and Citizens of the City of Wellington PC 1884
(New Zealand) Mr Plimmer had occupied land under a revocable licence from the Corporation’s predecessor-in-title and at their request had made extensive improvements to it. He sought compensation when the land was to be vested in the defendant. The . .
Distinguished – Stevens v Bromley London Borough Council 1972
The court referred to the extent of interest in land required by caravan dwellers to support payment of compensation on the issue of enforcement notice.
Held: Salmon LJ said: ‘I agree that the interest referred to in section 45(3)(b) is . .
Cited – Madrassa Anjuman Islamia of Kholwad v Municipal Council of Johan-Nesburg PC 1922
‘The word ‘occupy’ is a word of uncertain meaning. Sometimes it denotes legal possession in the technical sense, . . At other times ‘occupation’ denotes nothing more than physical presence in a place for a substantial period of time, . . Its precise . .
Cited – Tre Traktorer Aktiebolag v Sweden ECHR 7-Jul-1989
An alcohol licence for a restaurant was withdrawn with immediate effect because of financial irregularities, with the result that the restaurant business collapsed.
Held: ‘The government argued that a licence to sell alcoholic beverages could . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Planning, Damages

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.194672

Sally Harper v Virgin Net Limited: CA 10 Mar 2004

The employee had been dismissed. Her contractual notice period was longer than the statutory period.
Held: The statutory notice period prevailed in calculating the date of dismissal. The contractual period could not be used to extend the total period of employment to allow a claim for loss of the right to claim unfair dismissal. Had Parliament desired the result contended it would have made provision accordingly. The right not to be unfairly dismissed is a statutory creation.

Judges:

Lord Justice Brooke Lord Justice Chadwick Baker, Lord Justice Scott Baker

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 271, Times 16-Mar-2004, Gazette 08-Apr-2004

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Johnson v Unisys Ltd HL 23-Mar-2001
The claimant contended for a common law remedy covering the same ground as the statutory right available to him under the Employment Rights Act 1996 through the Employment Tribunal system.
Held: The statutory system for compensation for unfair . .
Cited – Brindle v Smith CA 1972
A question arose as to the position of an employee wrongfully dismissed just before the end of his first 104 weeks of service where he would have qualified to have a right not to be unfairly dismissed if he had been given proper notice.
Held: . .
Cited – Dedman v British Building and Engineering Appliances CA 1973
The claimant sought to bring his claim under a provision which required a complaint to the industrial tribunal to be made within four weeks of the dismissal unless the employment tribunal was satisfied that this was not ‘practicable’. He did not . .
Cited – Stapp v The Shaftesbury Society CA 1982
The employer had told the claimant: ‘I must ask you to relinquish your duties with effect from today 7 February 1981’ and thereby summarily dismissed him.
Held: The employer was clearly summarily dismissing with immediate effect in a wholly . .
Cited – Robert Court and Son Ltd v Charman EAT 1981
The EAT considered the effect of the statutory period of notice: ‘As a result, in our view Mr Charman has no right to complain to the Industrial Tribunal of unfair dismissal. Even if, as one must, one treats the effective date of termination as . .
Appeal from – Virgin Net Limited v Sally Harper EAT 15-May-2003
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Reason for dismissal . .

Cited by:

Appealed to – Virgin Net Limited v Sally Harper EAT 15-May-2003
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Reason for dismissal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Damages

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.194414

Daghir and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Home Department: Admn 13 Feb 2004

Judges:

Hooper J

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 243 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – In re McFarland HL 29-Apr-2004
The claimant was convicted, imprisoned, and then his conviction was overturned. He sought compensation. He had pleaded guilty after being told by counsel to expect an adverse direction from the magistrate, following a meeting in private between . .
Cited – Raissi, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 22-Feb-2007
The claimant sought judicial review of a refusal to make an ex gratia payment for his imprisonment whilst successfully resisting extradition proceedings. Terrorist connections had been suggested, but the judge made an explicit finding that at no . .
Cited – Raissi, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 14-Feb-2008
The claimant appealed against refusal of his request for judicial review of the defendant’s decision not to award him damages after his wrongful arrest and detention after he was wrongly suspected of involvement in terrorism. He had been discharged . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Torts – Other

Updated: 09 June 2022; Ref: scu.193506

ICTS (UK) Ltd v Visram: EAT 27 Mar 2019

CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT – Implied term/variation/construction of term
DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION – Compensation
DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION – Loss/mitigation
The Respondent appealed the decision of an Employment Tribunal on remedy for disability related discrimination and unfair dismissal that the Claimant should be awarded compensation for loss of long term disability benefits until retirement age or earlier death as the other terminating provision ‘return to work’ meant return to the job he was performing when he went sick and the evidence was that he would never again be able to perform those duties. The Employment Tribunal did not err in their construction of ‘return to work’ or in doing so in taking into account the terms of the Insurance Policy which was referred to in the incorporated Employee Booklet on such benefits as being provided by such a policy. Jowitt v Pioneer Technology (UK) Ltd [2003] IRLR 356 considered. Appeal of the Respondent dismissed.
The Employment Tribunal erred by failing to make an award for injury to feelings or by failing to give adequate reasons for not doing so. Appeal by the Claimant allowed.
Claim remitted to the Employment Tribunal for determining compensation for loss of long term and associated benefits and the issue of mitigation. Claim for aggravated damages also remitted for determination.

Citations:

[2019] UKEAT 0133 – 18 – 2703

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Employment, Discrimination, Damages

Updated: 09 June 2022; Ref: scu.635155

Sutcliffe v Pressdram Ltd: CA 1991

A 600,000 pound compensatory award was set aside by the Court of Appeal on the grounds that it must have been made on the wrong basis, almost certainly so as to punish Private Eye. The Court of Appeal could not substitute its own award for that of a jury. Juries in defamation cases should be reminded of the purchasing power of money when advised on the level of an award. A jury could be guided ‘in terms which will assist them to appreciate the real value of large sums . . the Judge could, I think, properly invite them to consider what the result would be in terms of weekly, monthly or annual income if the money were invested in a building society deposit account without touching the capital sum awarded or, if they have in mind smaller sums, to consider what they could buy with it.’

Judges:

Lord Donaldson MR

Citations:

[1991] 1 QB 153

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Approved – Rantzen v Mirror Group Newspapers (1986) Ltd and Others CA 1-Apr-1993
Four articles in the People all covered the same story about Esther Rantzen’s organisation, Childline, suggesting that the plaintiff had protected a teacher who had revealed to Childline abuses of children occurring at a school where he taught, by . .
Cited – John v MGN Ltd CA 12-Dec-1995
Defamation – Large Damages Awards
MGN appealed as to the level of damages awarded against it namely pounds 350,000 damages, comprising pounds 75,000 compensatory damages and pounds 275,000 exemplary damages. The newspaper contended that as a matter of principle there is no scope in . .
Cited – Kiam v MGN Ltd CA 28-Jan-2002
Where a court regards a jury award in a defamation case as excessive, a ‘proper’ award can be substituted for it is not whatever sum court thinks appropriate, wholly uninfluenced by jury’s view, but the highest award which a jury could reasonably . .
Cited – Gleaner Company Ltd and Another v Abrahams PC 14-Jul-2003
Punitive Defamation Damages Order Sustained
(Jamaica) The appellants challenged a substantial award of damages for defamation. They had wrongfully accused a government minister of corruption. There was evidence of substantial financial loss. ‘For nearly sixteen years the defendants, with all . .
Cited – Rowlands v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police CA 20-Dec-2006
The claimant succeeded in her claims for general damages against the respondent for personal injury, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, but appealed refusal of the court to award aggravated damages against the chief constable.
Held: . .
Cited – Lumba (WL) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 23-Mar-2011
The claimants had been detained under the 1971 Act, after completing sentences of imprisonment pending their return to their home countries under deportations recommended by the judges at trial, or chosen by the respondent. They challenged as . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation, Damages

Updated: 09 June 2022; Ref: scu.184737

Anslow v Cannock Chase Colliery Co Ltd: HL 17 May 1909

A workman was totally incapacitated by accident. During all the preceding year he had been employed by respondent company in the same grade of work. During this time there were 16 weeks when work was impossible through public holidays or stoppage of work. Out of the 36 working weeks the workman had been off work for 3 from sickness and private holiday. His total wages for the year earned in the 33 remaining weeks were pounds 68.
Held that stoppage of work and public holidays were normal incidents of the employment, and that therefore the workman’s average weekly earnings, in terms of the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906 (6 Edw. VII, c. 58), Sched. I, secs. 1, 2, were 36/52nd parts of the workman’s weekly earnings during the 33 weeks he had actually worked, i.e., 36/52nds of a 33rd part of pounds 68.

Judges:

Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lords Ashbourne, Gorel, and Shaw

Citations:

[1909] UKHL 1043 – 1, 46 SLR 1043 – 1

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Employment, Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 09 June 2022; Ref: scu.620578

Laing Limited v Yassin Essa: CA 21 Jan 2004

The claimant had been awarded damages for race discrimination. The employer appealed.
Held: In a claim for damages under the 1976 Act, it was not necessary to show that the damage suffered was reasonably forseeable.
Pill LJ said: ‘I see no need to superimpose the requirement or prerequisite of reasonable foreseeability upon the statutory tort in order to achieve the balance of interests which the law of tort requires. It is sufficient if the damage flows directly and naturally from the wrong. While there is force in the submission that, to prevent multiplicity of claims and frivolous claims, a control mechanism beyond that of causation is needed, reliance upon the good sense of employment tribunals in finding the facts and reaching conclusions on them is a sufficient control mechanism, in my view. As a mechanism for protecting a defendant against damages which, on policy grounds, may appear too remote, a further control by way of a reasonable foreseeability test is neither appropriate nor necessary in present circumstances.’
Clarke LJ said: ‘In all the circumstances we agree with Pill LJ that there is no need to add a further requirement of reasonable foreseeability and that the robust good sense of employment tribunals can be relied upon to ensure that compensation is awarded only where there really is a causal link between the act of discrimination and the injury alleged. No such compensation will of course be payable where there has been a break in the chain of causation or where the claimant has failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate his loss.’

Judges:

Lord Justice Clarke Lord Justice Rix Lord Justice Pill

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 2, Times 29-Jan-2004, [2004] IRLR 313, [2004] ICR 746

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Race Relations Act 1976

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Chagger v Abbey National Plc and Another CA 13-Nov-2009
The claimant appealed against the limitation of 2% placed on the uplift of his award of damages for having failed to comply with relevant dispute procedures. The tribunal had found exceptional reasons for reducing the uplift given the size of the . .
Cited – Jones and Another v Ruth and Another CA 12-Jul-2011
The parties were neighbours. The claimants succeeded in their assertion of trespass and nuisance in building works carried out by the defendant. The claimant appealed against the judge’s failure to award damages for harassment, saying that though . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Discrimination, Damages

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.192055

Anyanwu v London Borough of Hackney: EAT 15 Apr 2003

The claimant had been found to be subject to unlawful sex discrimination, but had had an award of nil damages. She appealed.

Judges:

Mitting J

Citations:

[2003] EAT 0295 – 02 – 1504, [2003] UKEAT 0295 – 02 – 1504

Links:

Bailii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Employment, Discrimination, Damages

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.189346

Sinclair Roche and Temperley (A Firm) v Somatra Ltd (Damages): CA 23 Oct 2003

The ‘Somatra’ was lost at sea. The insurance claim had been refused on the basis that the ship was unseaworthy. The owners came to instruct the appellant solicitors to represent them in the insurance claim. Having lost confidence in the solicitors, they had to change solicitors shortly before the trial, and said they were unable to claim the 75% of their claim they would have settled for at trial. The solicitors appealed against an award of the difference between that sum and the sum actually received.
Held: The appeal failed. There had been a clear chance of settling at the figure claimed.
The judge was entitled to make the award of costs he had ordered because of his findings as to the behaviour of the solicitor-partner involved.

Judges:

Schiemann, Tuckey, Longmore LJJ

Citations:

[2003] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 855, [2003] EWCA Civ 1474

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Assicurazioni Generali Spa v Arab Insurance Group (BSC) CA 13-Nov-2002
Rehearing/Review – Little Difference on Appeal
The appellant asked the Court to reverse a decision on the facts reached in the lower court.
Held: The appeal failed (Majority decision). The court’s approach should be the same whether the case was dealt with as a rehearing or as a review. . .
Cited – ABCI v Banque Franco-Tunisienne and others CA 27-Feb-2003
‘The thinking behind the CPR was that they would speak for themselves and that courts would not have to refer to an ever increasing body of authority in order to apply them.’ . .
Cited – Home Office v Lownds (Practice Note) CA 21-Mar-2002
The respondent had been ordered to pay costs of over pounds 16,000 in an action for clinical negligence where the final award was only pounds 4,000. The Secretary of State appealed claiming that the costs were disproportionate.
Held: In such . .
Cited – Somatra Ltd v Sinclair Roche and Temperley CA 28-Mar-2003
. .

Cited by:

Main Judgment – Sinclair Roche and Temperley (A Firm) v Somatra Ltd (Documents) CA 23-Oct-2003
The court refused an application for further documents to be disclosed, the application being made on the day before the hearing of the appeal. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Damages

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.187061

Rahman v Arearose Limited and Another, University College London, NHS Trust: CA 15 Jun 2000

The claimant had suffered a vicious physical assault from which the claimant’s employers should have protected him, and an incompetently performed surgical operation. Three psychiatrists agreed that the aetiology of the claimant’s very severe psychiatric disabilities was complex and that different elements of his mental troubles could be attributed to the two separate tortious incidents.
Held: The court considered the relationship between the damage caused and the duty in negligence.
Laws LJ said: ‘Once it is recognised that the first principle is that every tortfeasor should compensate the injured claimant in respect of that loss and damage for which he should justly be held responsible, the metaphysics of causation can be kept in their proper place: of themselves they offered in any event no hope of a solution of the problems which confront the courts in this and other areas.
So in all these cases, the real question is, what is the damage for which the defendant under consideration should be held responsible. The nature of his duty (here, in the common law duty of care) is relevant; causation, certainly, will be relevant – but it will fall to be viewed, and in truth can only be understood, in light of the answer to the question: from what kind of harm was it the defendant’s duty to guard the claimant? . . Novus actus interveniens, the eggshell skull, and (in the case of multiple torts) the concept of concurrent tortfeasors are all no more and no less than tools or mechanisms which the law has developed to articulate in practice the extent of any liable defendant’s responsibility for the loss and damage which the claimant has suffered.’ In this case there was nothing in the way of a sensible finding that while the second defendants obviously (and exclusively) caused the right eye blindness, thereafter each tort had its part to play in the claimant’s suffering.
Laws LJ considered the logical impossibility of apportioning the damage among different tortfeasors, and said: ‘The reason for the rule that each concurrent tortfeasor is liable to compensate for the whole of the damage is not hard to find. In any such case, the claimant cannot prove that either tortfeasor singly caused the damage, or caused any particular part or portion of the damage. Accordingly his claim would fall to be dismissed, for want of proof of causation. But that would be the plainest injustice; hence the rule. However, the rule was a potential source of another injustice. A defendant against whom judgment had been given, under the rule, for the whole of the claimant’s damages had at common law no cause of action against his fellow concurrent tortfeasor to recover any part of what he had to pay under the judgment; so that the second tortfeasor, if for whatever reason he was not sued by the claimant, might escape scot free. Hence the Act of 1978 and its predecessor the Law Reform (Married Women and Tortfeasors) Act 1935. It provides a right of contribution between concurrent tortfeasors. The expression ‘same damage’ in s.1(1) therefore means (and means only) the kind of single indivisible injury as arises at common law in a case of concurrent torts.’

Judges:

Schiemann LJ, Laws LJ, Henry LJ

Citations:

[2001] QB 351, [2000] EWCA Civ 190, (2001) 62 BMLR 84, [2000] 3 WLR 1184

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 1(1) 2(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Blatch v Archer 1774
Lord Mansfield said: ‘It is certainly a maxim that all evidence is to be weighed according to proof which it was in the power of one side to have produced, and in the power of the other to have contradicted.’ . .
Cited – Heil v Rankin, Rees v Mabco (102) Ltd, Schofield v Saunders and Taylor Ltd and Other cases CA 23-Mar-2000
The Law Commission had recommended that the general level of damages awarded for pain suffering and loss of amenity in personal injury cases should be raised. The Court now considered several cases on the issue.
Held: The court would do so. . .
Cited – Dingle v Associated Newspapers CA 1961
A defamation of the claimant had been published and then repeated by others.
Held: The court discussed the logical impossibility of apportioning damage between different tortfeasors: ‘Where injury has been done to the plaintiff and the injury . .
Cited – Hogan v Bentinck Collieries HL 1949
The workman plaintiff suffered from a congenital defect; he had an extra thumb in his right hand. He met with an industrial accident and fractured the false thumb. It was treated by splinting but he continued to be in pain. He was then sent to the . .
Cited – Chapman v Hearse, Baker v Willoughby HL 26-Nov-1969
The plaintiff, a pedestrian had been struck by the defendant’s car while crossing the road. The plaintiff had negligently failed to see the defendant’s car approaching. The defendant had a clear view of the plaintiff prior to the collision, but was . .
Cited – Robinson v Post Office 1974
The chain of causation leading to the damages was broken by a later negligent act. . .
Cited – Jobling v Associated Dairies HL 1980
The claimant suffered an accident at work which left him with continuing disabling back pain. Before the trial of his claim he was diagnosed as suffering from a disease, in no way connected with the accident, which would in any event have wholly . .

Cited by:

Cited – Wardlaw v Dr Farrar CA 27-Nov-2003
The claimant appealed an award of andpound;1,000 damages for the death of his wife for professional negligence. Doctors had differed as to whether the delay complained of had contributed to the death.
Held: It was vital now that medical . .
Cited – Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd and Others HL 20-Jun-2002
The claimants suffered mesothelioma after contact with asbestos while at work. Their employers pointed to several employments which might have given rise to the condition, saying it could not be clear which particular employment gave rise to the . .
Cited – Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd CA 31-Mar-2006
The deceased had suffered a head injury whilst working for the defendant. In addition to severe physical consequences he suffered post-traumatic stress, became more and more depressed, and then committed suicide six years later. The claimant . .
Cited – Barker v Corus (UK) Plc HL 3-May-2006
The claimants sought damages after contracting meselothemia working for the defendants. The defendants argued that the claimants had possibly contracted the disease at any one or more different places. The Fairchild case set up an exception to the . .
Cited – Dickins v O2 Plc CA 16-Oct-2008
The employer appealed against a finding that it was responsible for the personal injury of the claimant in the form of psychiatric injury resulting from stress suffered working for them. She had told her employers that she was at the end of her . .
Cited – Gray v Thames Trains and Others HL 17-Jun-2009
The claimant suffered psychiatric injury in a rail crash caused by the defendant’s negligence. Under this condition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the claimant had later gone on to kill another person, and he had been detained under section 41. . .
Cited – Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust etc CA 11-May-2004
The court considered the effect on costs orders of a refusal to take part in alternate dispute resolution procedures. The defendant Trust had refused to take the dispute to a mediation. In neither case had the court ordered or recommended ADR.
Cited – Luke v Kingsley Smith and Company and Others QBD 23-Jun-2003
The claimant sued various of those who had represented him in a claim against the Ministry of Defence. He believed that he had had to accept an inadequate sum in settlement after being at risk of losing the claim for non-prosecution. The defendant . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Negligence

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.185924

Holtby v Brigham and Cowan (Hull) Ltd: CA 6 Apr 2000

A claimant who sought damages for injuries suffered by the ingestion of asbestos whilst working for one employer, but had also worked for other periods for other employers where similar activities had been involved, had the onus in the claim to prove causation. It might be impossible to apportion the damage exactly, but he must demonstrate a substantial contribution from the defendant. Having been found responsible in this way, the employer would be responsible only to the extent of his contribution to the asbestosis. Each tortfeasor should be responsible only for the proportion which its exposure contributed to the damage.

Judges:

Lord Justice Stuart-Smith Lord Justice Mummery Lord Justice Clarke

Citations:

Times 12-Apr-2000, Gazette 11-May-2000, [2000] EWCA Civ 111, [2000] 3 All ER 421

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Thompson v Smiths Shiprepairers (North Shields) Ltd QBD 1984
The test to be applied in determining the time at which an employer’s failure to provide protection constituted actionable negligence was what would have been done at any particular time by a reasonable and prudent employer who was properly but not . .

Cited by:

Cited – Environment Agency v Ellis CA 17-Oct-2008
The claimant was injured working for the appellants. The appellants now appealed the finding that they were responsible saying that other factors contributed to the injury, and in particular that he had fallen at home. The claimant said that that . .
Cited – Horsley v Cascade Insulation Services Ltd and Others QBD 18-Nov-2009
The claimant sought damages after contracting asbestosis through employment exposure with the defendants. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Health and Safety, Damages

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.185908

Fitzgerald v Lane: HL 14 Jul 1988

The plaintiff crossed road at a pelican crossing. The lights were against him but one car had stopped. As he passed that car he was struck by another in the second lane and again by a car coming the other way. The judge had held the three equally responsible. The defendants appealed the calculation of damages.
Held: Apportionment of liability in a case of contributory negligence between plaintiff and defendants must be kept separate from apportionment of contribution between the defendants inter se. The judge should first have set the plaintiff’s level of contribution, and then as a different stage apportioned the liability thus found between the defendants.

Judges:

Lord Bridge of Harwich, Lord Brandon of Oakbrook, Lord Templeman, Lord Ackner, Lord Oliver of Aylmerton

Citations:

[1989] AC 328, [1988] UKHL 5, [1988] 2 All ER 961

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Approved – Davies v Swan Motor Co (Swansea) Ltd CA 1949
A plaintiff brought an action for damages for personal injury against the drivers of two cars.
Held: There are two aspects to apportioning responsibility between a plaintiff and defendant in an action for negligence, the respective causative . .
Appeal from – Fitzgerald v Lane CA 6-Mar-1987
The plaintiff was struck by the defendant’s car as he crossed at a pelican crossing and suffered severe injuries when the first defendant’s car passed the stationary of the second defendant. The judge found all three parties negligent.
Held: . .
Not approved – The Miraflores and The Abadesa PC 1967
Two ships had collided. A third itself ran aground trying to avoid them, and its ownes sought damages.
Held: The unit approach to apportionment of damages was wrong.
Lord Morris said of section 1 of the 1911 Act: ‘The section calls for . .

Cited by:

Cited – Eagle v Chambers CA 24-Jul-2003
The claimant was severely injured when run down by the defendant driving his car. She was in Blackpool, and drunk and wandering in the highway. The defendant was himself at or near the drink driving limit. She appealed against a finding that she was . .
Cited – Nationwide Building Society v Dunlop Haywards (HLl) Ltd (T/A Dunlop Heywood Lorenz) and Cobbetts ComC 18-Feb-2009
The claimant had leant money on a property fraudulently overvalued by an employee of the now insolvent first defendant. A contribution order had been agreed by the solicitors. The court heard applications by the claimants and the solicitors against . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Negligence, Damages

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.185852

Lim Poh Choo v Camden and Islington Area Health Authority: HL 21 Jun 1979

The plaintiff was catastrophically injured. Her life expectation was not affected, but she would never be able to work at her expected profession as a doctor, and was entitled to recover for loss of earnings. The defendant said that there was in effect a double claim.
Held: In order to avoid double recovery there had to be two deductions; first the expenses of earning the income which had been lost and ‘secondly, the plaintiff’s living expenses. This is necessarily a hypothetical figure in the case of a ‘lost years’ claim, since the plaintiff does not survive to earn the money; and since there is no cost of care claim (the plaintiff being assumed to be dead), it falls to be deducted from the loss of earnings award’. An award is conventional in the sense that there is no pecuniary guideline which can point the way to a correct assessment.

Judges:

Scarman L

Citations:

[1980] AC 174, [1979] UKHL 1

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948 2(4)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Dews v National Coal Board HL 1988
The plaintiff miner sought damages for an injury suffered at work.
Held: An employee who had been injured at work could not recover unpaid pension contributions, which had no effect on his pension entitlement, as part of his loss of pay while . .

Cited by:

Cited – Geoffrey Chatwin v Janice Lowther CA 21-May-2003
The case concerned the meaning of the phrase ‘compensation for earnings lost’ as it applied to self employed persons.
Held: The fact that a person’s accounts described fees as turnover, did not prevent them being still earnings within the Act. . .
Cited – Rees v Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust HL 16-Oct-2003
The claimant was disabled, and sought sterilisation because she feared the additional difficulties she would face as a mother. The sterilisation failed. She sought damages.
Held: The House having considered the issue in MacFarlane only . .
Cited – Independent Assessor v O’Brien, Hickey, Hickey CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimants had been imprisoned for many years before their convictions were quashed. They claimed compensation under the Act. The assessor said that there should be deducted from the award the living expenses they would have incurred if they had . .
Cited – Independent Assessor v O’Brien, Hickey, Hickey CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimants had been imprisoned for many years before their convictions were quashed. They claimed compensation under the Act. The assessor said that there should be deducted from the award the living expenses they would have incurred if they had . .
Cited – O’Brien and others v Independent Assessor HL 14-Mar-2007
The claimants had been wrongly imprisoned for a murder they did not commit. The assessor had deducted from their compensation a sum to represent the living costs they would have incurred if living freely. They also appealed differences from a . .
Cited – O’Brien and others v Independent Assessor HL 14-Mar-2007
The claimants had been wrongly imprisoned for a murder they did not commit. The assessor had deducted from their compensation a sum to represent the living costs they would have incurred if living freely. They also appealed differences from a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.185767

Josephine Murray and others v Greenock Dockyard Limited: SCS 4 Jun 2003

The deceased contracted mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos, and died. He and the pursuer had married in 1959 at 21. They were married over 41 years, and had one child. The marriage had its ups and downs, and for a time during the 1980s was difficult. The deceased was drinking heavily and the pursuer had left the matrimonial home with their daughter to give him a ‘wee fright’, but returned after two weeks. He undertook to cut back on his drinking and normal married life was resumed.
Held: The marriage was generally happy and that there was a close loving relationship between them. Over the last ten years before his death the pursuer looked after the deceased and was devoted to him and in his last year organised her day so that she could be with him. The deceased was a heavy smoker and had a breathless turn in 1999. During the course of subsequent investigation the mesothelioma was diagnosed. He underwent radiotherapy (three fractions). His GP subsequently recorded that pain did not seem to be a problem. In the last year of his life the deceased was less unfortunate than some mesothelioma sufferers. He did not suffer quite as much pain and discomfort as some, and awarded andpound;20,000 to the pursuer in respect of her section 1(4) claim, and andpound;47,500 to her as executrix in respect of her section 2(1) claim for solatium.

Judges:

J. Gordon Reid, QC

Citations:

[2003] ScotCS 164, 2004 SLT 346

Links:

Bailii, ScotC

Cited by:

See Also – Josephine Murray As Individual and As Executor Nominate of Joseph Murray Kirsten Allardice Andrew Allardice Josephine Murray As Executor Nominate of the Late Mary Murray v the Greenock Dockyard Company Limited OHCS 30-Apr-2004
. .
Cited – McTear v Imperial Tobacco Ltd OHCS 31-May-2005
The pursuer sought damages after her husband’s death from lung cancer. She said that the defenders were negligent in having continued to sell him cigarettes knowing that they would cause this.
Held: The action failed. The plaintiff had not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Scotland, Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.183906

Channel Islands Knitwear Company Limited v Hotchkiss: PC 16 Jun 2003

PC (Jersey) The claimant sought damages for personal injuries in the form of a neck strain acquired by working long hours for her employer. Negligence was admitted, but both parties appealed.
Held: There was no sufficient evidence that the substantial injury which followed her ceasing to work for the defendant was caused by the neglect. The company remained liable for the injury to the extent they admitted.

Judges:

Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hutton, Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, The Rt. Hon. Justice Tipping

Citations:

[2003] UKPC 45

Links:

Bailii, PC, PC

Commonwealth, Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.183885

Douglas Williams and others v Glyn Owen and Co: CA 11 Jun 2003

Land was sold at auction. The particulars appeared to included valuable milk quota. The vendor was unable to complete, but no completion notice was served. The judge had held that the correct measure of damages was the difference (in financial terms) between what would have happened had a completion notice been served by Mr Williams and what actually happened. That sum was small.
Held: the judge’s treatment of the evidence was unsatisfactory. Had the purchaser obtained possession, he might have been able to trade at a profit for the intervening period. Damages were increased to reflect those losses.

Judges:

Lord Justice Auld Lord Justice Clarke Lord Justice Jonathan Parker

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 750

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Banco de Portugal v Waterlow and Sons Ltd HL 28-Apr-1932
Lord Macmillan said: ‘Where the sufferer from a breach of contract finds himself in consequence of that breach placed in position of embarrassment the measures which he may be driven to adopt in order to extricate himself ought not to be weighed in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Professional Negligence

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.183376

Dunnachie v Kingston Upon Hull City Council; Williams v Southampton Institute; Dawson v Stonham Housing Association: EAT 8 Apr 2003

EAT Unfair Dismissal – Compensation
In each case, The employee sought additional damages for non-economic loss after an unfair dismissal.
Held: The Act could be compared with the Discrimination Acts which explicitly awarded damages for hurt feelings. Clear authority lay against such awards in unfair dismissal cases. An Employment Tribunal considering a claim for damages for breach of a contract of employment cannot award general damages: it also cannot award such damages for wrongful dismissal at common law, as if it were a High Court or county court
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Compensation.

Judges:

The Honourable Mr Justice Burton (P)

Citations:

EAT/726/02, EAT/848/02, Times 09-Jun-2003, [2003] EAT 0726 – 02 – 2205, [2003] UKEAT 0726 – 02 – 2205

Links:

Bailii, Bailii, EATn

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Examined – Johnson v Unisys Ltd HL 23-Mar-2001
The claimant contended for a common law remedy covering the same ground as the statutory right available to him under the Employment Rights Act 1996 through the Employment Tribunal system.
Held: The statutory system for compensation for unfair . .
Cited – McCabe v Cornwall County Council, The Governing Body of Mounts Bay School CA 23-Dec-2002
The claimant sought damages for the consequences of having been suspended from work as a teacher. He later recovered damages for unfair dismissal, and the court had struck out his claim for damages over and above those already awarded.
Held: . .
Cited – Wellman Alloys Ltd v Russell 1973
Only economic losses are recoverable following a dismissal. . .
Cited – Norton Tool Co Ltd v Tewson NIRC 30-Oct-1972
(National Industrial Relations Court) The court was asked to calculate damages on a dismissal, and particularly as to whether the manner of the dismissal should affect the damages.
Held: The common law rules and authorities on wrongful . .
Cited – Robert Normansell (Birmingham) Ltd v Barfield 1973
The court refused to award damages for non-economic loss after a dismissal, and particularly in this case for loss of job satisfaction. . .
Cited – Vaughan v Weighpack Ltd NIRC 1974
(National Industrial Relations Court) In a claim for compensation for unfair dismissal, the employee should be treated as having suffered a loss in so far as he received less than he would have received in accordance with good industrial practice. . .
Cited – Malik v Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI); Mahmud v Bank of Credit and Commerce International HL 12-Jun-1997
Allowance of Stigma Damages
The employees claimed damages, saying that the way in which their employer had behaved during their employment had led to continuing losses, ‘stigma damages’ after the termination.
Held: It is an implied term of any contract of employment that . .
Cited – Norton Tool Co Ltd v Tewson NIRC 30-Oct-1972
(National Industrial Relations Court) The court was asked to calculate damages on a dismissal, and particularly as to whether the manner of the dismissal should affect the damages.
Held: The common law rules and authorities on wrongful . .
Cited – Alexander v Home Office CA 1988
Prisoners are a section of the public for the purposes of the 1976 Act. The Court increased an award for injury to feelings awarded for race discrimination by prison officers from pounds 50 to pounds 500. The court considered the appropriate level . .
Cited – Cleveland Ambulance National Health Service Trust v Blane EAT 19-Feb-1997
An Industrial Tribunal can award damages for injured feelings on a complaint of action which fell short of a dismissal.
Held: Judge Peter Clark said: ‘It is nothing to the point that an award for injury to feelings cannot be recovered in a . .
Cited – Haigh v Royal Mail Steampacket Co Ltd CA 1883
”personal injury’ is not ‘loss’ because a limb may be broken without being lost. The word ‘injury’ would certainly have been more apt, but the word ‘damage’ can certainly mean personal injury’. . .
Cited – Taylor v John Webster Buildings Civil Engineering EAT 1999
‘the basic award is to reflect a lost redundancy award; that is its function’. . .
Cited – Addis v Gramophone Company Limited HL 26-Jul-1909
Mr Addis was wrongfully and contumeliously dismissed from his post as the defendant’s manager in Calcutta. He sought additional damages for the manner of his dismissal.
Held: It did not matter whether the claim was under wrongful dismissal. . .
Cited – Watts and Co v Morrow CA 30-Jul-1991
The plaintiff had bought a house on the faith of the defendant’s report that there were only limited defects requiring repair. In fact the defects were much more extensive. The defendant surveyor appealed against an award of damages after his . .
Cited – Farley v Skinner HL 11-Oct-2001
The claimant sought damages from the defendant surveyor. He had asked the defendant whether the house he was to buy was subject to aircraft noise. After re-assurance, he bought the house. The surveyor was wrong and negligent. A survey would not . .
Cited – Gogay v Hertfordshire County Council CA 26-Jul-2000
The employee sought damages for breach of the implied term of trust and confidence, even though she remained throughout the employment of the Council against whom she was bringing proceedings.
Held: Her remaining in employment was a factor . .
Cited – Eastwood v Magnox Electric plc CA 2002
There was a claim for damages in respect of psychiatric injury said to result from a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence, which was asserted to be recoverable notwithstanding Johnson, on the basis that the acts of the employer . .
Cited – Boardman v Copeland Borough Council CA 13-Jun-2001
The claimant had ‘neither pleaded nor shown any damage to him during the course of his employment which resulted from his employer’s conduct. The only damage which is demonstrated is that which followed from his dismissal and, arguably, the manner . .
Cited – Page v Smith HL 12-May-1995
The plaintiff was driving his car when the defendant turned into his path. Both cars suffered considerable damage but the drivers escaped physical injury. The Plaintiff had a pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which manifested itself from time . .
Cited – Devine v Designer Flowers Wholesale Florist Sundries Ltd EAT 1993
The claimant’s dismissal caused her to suffer anxiety and depression which rendered her unfit for work.
Held: The fact that the employee’s incapacity was caused by the unfair dismissal did not necessarily mean that she was entitled to . .
Cited – London Fire and Civil Defence Authority v Betty EAT 1994
Tribunals should not be concerned to ascertain whether the illness was caused or contributed to by the employer. The question in issue is whether, in the light of the employee’s medical condition and the inquiries and procedures the employer made . .
Cited – Kumchyk v Derby County Council EAT 1978
The appellant sought to advance an argument that a certain term was implied into the contract of employment which, for its consideration, would have required consideration of a factual framework which had not been explored in evidence.
Held: . .
Cited – Crofton v Yeboah EAT 16-May-2001
After a very long hearing, the appellant had been found guilty of race discrimination in his making of allegations about the behaviour of the respondent in failing to investigate corruption within Hackney London Borough Council.
Held: The . .
Cited – Walker v Northumberland County Council QBD 16-Nov-1994
The plaintiff was a manager within the social services department. He suffered a mental breakdown in 1986, and had four months off work. His employers had refused to provide the increased support he requested. He had returned to work, but again, did . .

Cited by:

See Also – Kingston Upon Hull City Council v Dunnachie; HSBC Bank Plc v Drage EAT 7-Jul-2003
EAT Practice and Procedure – Costs
EAT Practice and Procedure – Costs. . .
See Also – Kingston Upon Hull City Council v Dunnachie EAT 23-Jun-2003
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Procedural fairness/automatically unfair dismissal. . .
See Also – Dunnachie v Kingston Upon Hull City Council CA 11-Feb-2004
Compensation for non-economic loss brought about by the manner of an unfair dismissal is, on authority and on principle, recoverable. The award of such compensation by the employment tribunal in the present case was not excessive and was adequately . .
At EAT – Dunnachie v Kingston-upon-Hull City Council HL 15-Jul-2004
The claimant sought damages following his dismissal to include a sum to reflect the manner of his dismissal and the distress caused.
Held: The remarks of Lord Hoffmann in Johnson -v- Unysis were obiter. The court could not, under the section, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Damages

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.183076

Liesbosch Dredger (Owners of) v Owners of SS Edison, The Liesbosch: HL 28 Feb 1933

The ship Edison fouled the moorings of the Liesbosch resulting in the total loss of the dredger when it sank. It had been engaged on work in the harbour under contract with the harbour board. All the owners’ liquid resources were engaged in the contract, and their deposit under the contract was forfeit if the work was delayed. They were unable to raise the funds that were needed to buy another dredger, so they hired another, the Adria, which was more expensive to hire and work. Due entirely to their lack of means, the owners incurred much more expense in the provision of an alternative dredger than they would have done if they had been able to purchase an equivalent. The owners of the Liesbosch claimed their actual loss, on the basis that all the circumstances should be taken into account and they had acted reasonably in hiring the Italian vessel in view of their financial embarrassment.
Held: The sum awarded as damages was restricted to the market price of a comparable dredger at the time of the loss, together with the cost of transporting her and insuring her to Patras. The court should not take into account a claimant’s want of means when assessing the amount of his loss. The principle enunciated in the Clippens oil case was as to the existence of any duty of mitigation.
Lord Wright said that: ‘it follows that the value of the Liesbosch to the appellants, capitalized as at the date of the loss, must be assessed by taking into account: (1.) the market price of a comparable dredger in substitution; (2.) costs of adaptation, transport, insurance, etc., to Patras; (3.) compensation for disturbance and loss in carrying out their contract over the period of delay between the loss of the Liesbosch and the time at which the substituted dredger could reasonably have been available for use in Patras, including in that loss such items as overhead charges, expenses of staff and equipment, and so forth thrown away, but neglecting any special loss due to the appellants’ financial position.’

Judges:

Lord Wright

Citations:

[1933] AC 449, [1933] All ER Rep 144, [1933] 149 LT 49, [1933] UKHL 2

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Distinguished – Clippens Oil Co v Edinburgh and District Water Trustees HL 1907
A wrongdoer must take his victim as he finds him, and be answerable for the consequences which actually flow from his wrongful act.
Lord Collins said: ‘In my opinion the wrongdoer must take his victim talem qualem, and if the position of the . .
Cited – The Harmonides 1903
The measure of damages for the loss of a profitable ship is to include its economic value: ‘So that the real test, where there is no market is, as counsel on both sides agree, what is the value to the owners as a going concern, at the time the . .

Cited by:

Cited – Smith and Another v South Gloucestershire Council CA 31-Jul-2002
The claimants purchased land. The local search did not reveal a planning permission which affected the value of the property by applying an occupancy condition. He claimed compensation. Compensation was eventually agreed to be payable, but the . .
Cited – Ali Reza-Delta Transport Co Ltd v United Arab Shipping Co Sag CA 17-Jun-2003
The case had concluded. Offers of settlement had been made and the operative one included an offer on the interest payable. The court came to decide how the interest part of the offer was to be considered when assessing whether the judgment bettered . .
Overruled – Lagden v O’Connor HL 4-Dec-2003
The parties had been involved in a road traffic accident. The defendant drove into the claimant’s parked car. The claimant was unable to afford to hire a car pending repairs being completed, and arranged to hire a car on credit. He now sought . .
Distinguished – Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica Inc v Herbert Broderick PC 20-Mar-2000
(Jamaica) Damage had been caused to the claimant’s property, but, because of his lack of funds, he was dependent upon the receipt of the damages to carry out the works of repair necessary. By the time the matter came to trial, inflation meant that . .
Followed – Ramwade Ltd v W J Emson and Co Ltd CA 1987
The plaintiffs had been obliged to hire vehicles to perform the work carried out by their skip lorry which had been damaged beyond repair in a road accident. Their insurance brokers had, contrary to instructions, failed to procure a comprehensive . .
Cited – Dodd Properties (Kent) Ltd v Canterbury City Council CA 21-Dec-1979
The defendants had, in the course of building operations, caused nuisance and damage to the plaintiff’s building. The dispute was very lengthy, the costs of repair increased accordingly, and the parties now disputed the date at which damages fell to . .
Confined – Perry v Sidney Phillips and Son CA 1982
In 1982 the surveyor failed to observe serious defects, including a leaking roof and a septic tank with an offensive smell. The plaintiff purchaser could not afford major repairs and executed only minor repairs himself. At the date of the trial the . .
Cited – Radford v De Froberville 2-Jan-1977
A contract was made for the sale of a plot of land adjoining a house belonging to the plaintiff (the vendor) but occupied by his tenants, under which the defendant (the purchaser) undertook to build a house on the plot and also to erect a wall to a . .
Cited – HM Revenue and Customs, Regina (on the Application of) v Raymond Machell QC and others Admn 21-Nov-2005
The claimant had had goods taken and destroyed by Revenue and Customs, which had been found to be wrongfully condemned. They had been awarded the market value of the goods at UK prices, though they had been bought in France.
Held: The market . .
Cited – Parry v Cleaver HL 5-Feb-1969
PI Damages not Reduced for Own Pension
The plaintiff policeman was disabled by the negligence of the defendant and received a disablement pension. Part had been contributed by himself and part by his employer.
Held: The plaintiff’s appeal succeeded. Damages for personal injury were . .
Cited – Compania Financiera v Hamoor Tanker Corporation (‘the Borag’) CA 1981
The managers had taken on the management of the ship. In the course of a dispute, the managers had the ship arrested whilst in Capetown. The owners had to obtain a bank guarantee to secure its release, and sought the interest payments on the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.182979

Shetland Sea Farms Ltd, Assuranceforeningen Skuld v International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund and others: ScS 28 May 2003

The claimant’s fish farm had been damaged followng the discharge of oil from the Braer. The responders operated a scheme for compensation for losses. The parties disputed the entitlement of the claimants to compensation for losses following their inability to introduce smolt into the farm.

Judges:

Lord Hardie

Citations:

[2003] ScotCS 153

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Agriculture, Damages

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.182636

Giullietta Galli-Atkinson v Seghal: CA 21 Mar 2003

The claimant’s daughter was fatally injured in car accident, dying shortly after. The mother came upon the scene, witnessed a police cordon at the scene of the accident and was told of her death. She later saw the injuries at the mortuary and suffered psychiatric reaction.
Held: Her appeal succeeded. The aftermath could be seen to include more than one component. The test was as to proximity. Latham LJ explained that the deceased’s mother’s visit to the mortuary could not be excluded from the events regarded as a part of the aftermath of the accident. Those events stretched from ‘the moment of the accident until the moment [the mother] left the mortuary’. In this case there could be seen to be one unbroken chain of events between the discovery of the body and the events at the mortuary. An event might be made up of a number of components as could the aftermath ‘provided that the events alleged to constitute the aftermath retain sufficient proximity to the event’.

Judges:

Lord Justice Thorpe, Lord Justice Latham, Mr Justice Wilson

Citations:

[2003] Lloyds Rep Med 285, [2003] EWCA Civ 697

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – McLoughlin v O’Brian HL 6-May-1982
The plaintiff was the mother of a child who died in an horrific accident, in which her husband and two other children were also injured. She was at home at the time of the accident, but went to the hospital immediately when she had heard what had . .
Cited – Alcock and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police HL 28-Nov-1991
The plaintiffs sought damages for nervous shock. They had watched on television, as their relatives and friends, 96 in all, died at a football match, for the safety of which the defendants were responsible. The defendant police service had not . .
Cited – Hambrook v Stokes Brothers CA 1925
The defendant’s employee left a lorry at the top of a steep narrow street unattended, with the engine running and without having taken proper steps to secure it. The lorry ran violently down the hill. The plaintiff’s wife had been walking up the . .
Cited – Bourhill v Young’s Executor HL 5-Aug-1942
When considering claims for damages for shock, the court only recognised the action lying where the injury by shock was sustained ‘through the medium of the eye or the ear without direct contact.’ Wright L said: ‘No doubt, it has long ago been . .
Cited – Page v Smith HL 12-May-1995
The plaintiff was driving his car when the defendant turned into his path. Both cars suffered considerable damage but the drivers escaped physical injury. The Plaintiff had a pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which manifested itself from time . .
Cited – North Glamorgan NHS Trust v Walters CA 6-Dec-2002
A new mother woke in hospital to see her baby (E) fitting. E suffered a major epileptic seizure leading to coma and irreparable brain damage. E was transferred to a London hospital and the following day the claimant was told by a consultant that E’s . .

Cited by:

Cited – Taylor v A Novo (UK) Ltd CA 18-Mar-2013
The deceased had suffered a head injury at work from the defendant’s admitted negligence. She had been making a good recovery but then collapsed and died at home from pulmonary emboli, and thrombosis which were a consequence of the injury. The . .
Cited – Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust v Ronayne CA 17-Jun-2015
The respondent was an experienced ambulance driver. His wife underwent emergency treatment at the appellant’s hospital. He had claimed as a secondary victim for the distress he suffered witnessing her suffering.
Held: The hospital’s appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.182326

Norton Tool Co Ltd v Tewson: NIRC 30 Oct 1972

(National Industrial Relations Court) The court was asked to calculate damages on a dismissal, and particularly as to whether the manner of the dismissal should affect the damages.
Held: The common law rules and authorities on wrongful dismissal are irrelevant. That cause of action is quite unaffected by the Act which has created an entirely new cause of action, namely, the ‘Unfair Industrial Practice’ of unfair dismissal. The measure of compensation for that statutory wrong is itself the creature of statute and is to be found in the Act of 1971 and nowhere else.
Donaldson P said: ‘The amount to be awarded is that which is just and equitable in all the circumstances, having regard to the loss sustained by the complainant. ‘Loss’ in the context of section of 116 does not include injury to pride or feelings. In its natural meaning the word is not to be so construed, and that this meaning is intended seems to us to be clear from the elaboration contained in section 116(2). The discretionary element is introduced by the words ‘having regard to the loss’. This does not mean that the court of tribunal can have regard to other matters, but rather that the amount of the compensation is not precisely and arithmetically related to the approved loss . . The circumstances of the dismissal were relevant only if they were such as to cause or to be likely to cause future loss. Injury to the employee’s pride or feelings is not loss and is irrelevant . . We need only consider whether the manner and circumstances of his dismissal could give rise to any risk of financial loss at a later stage by, for example, making him less acceptable to potential employers or exceptionally liable to selection for dismissal.’ It was good industrial relations practice for an employer who dismisses without notice to make a payment in lieu of notice. Where such sums are paid, no credit has to be given by the employee for monies earned by the employee from other employers in the notice period. It was held that damages for unfair dismissal should therefore include full pay for the notice period without reduction for mitigation.

Judges:

Donaldson P

Citations:

[1972] IRLR 86 NIRC, [1973] 1 WLR 45, [1972] ICR 501

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Industrial Relations Act 1971 116(1)

Citing:

Cited – Addis v Gramophone Company Limited HL 26-Jul-1909
Mr Addis was wrongfully and contumeliously dismissed from his post as the defendant’s manager in Calcutta. He sought additional damages for the manner of his dismissal.
Held: It did not matter whether the claim was under wrongful dismissal. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Flexible Ducting Ltd v Stirling EAT 25-Sep-2001
The issue was the valuation of share options no longer exercisable by the claimant after dismissal. Any assessment involved unwelcome speculation, but the tribunal had recognised the need to take a broad approach. No error of law was shown in the ET . .
Cited – Malik v Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI); Mahmud v Bank of Credit and Commerce International HL 12-Jun-1997
Allowance of Stigma Damages
The employees claimed damages, saying that the way in which their employer had behaved during their employment had led to continuing losses, ‘stigma damages’ after the termination.
Held: It is an implied term of any contract of employment that . .
Cited – Jones v Lingfield Leisure Plc CA 18-Jun-1998
The claimant had been unfairly dismissed but in addition to this employment she had also lost her earnings from a private practice as an aerobics teacher at the same facility where she was employed. She had been awarded damages for the employment . .
Cited – Leonard v Strathclyde Buses Ltd 1998
To receive a compensatory award, a claimant must provide proof of loss. Referring to Norton Tool, Lord Blofeld said: ‘The approach . . has, as we understand the position, governed the attitude of tribunals to compensation ever since. It is, in our . .
Cited – Dunnachie v Kingston Upon Hull City Council; Williams v Southampton Institute; Dawson v Stonham Housing Association EAT 8-Apr-2003
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Compensation
In each case, The employee sought additional damages for non-economic loss after an unfair dismissal.
Held: The Act could be compared with the Discrimination Acts . .
Followed – Wellman Alloys Ltd v Russell 1973
Only economic losses are recoverable following a dismissal. . .
Folowed – Robert Normansell (Birmingham) Ltd v Barfield 1973
The court refused to award damages for non-economic loss after a dismissal, and particularly in this case for loss of job satisfaction. . .
Cited – O’Donoghue v Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council CA 17-May-2001
The Tribunal had been entitled to find on the evidence that an employee unfairly dismissed by reason of sex would have been fairly dismissed for misconduct six months later in any event because of her antagonistic and intransigent attitude. The . .
Cited – Dunnachie v Kingston Upon Hull City Council; Williams v Southampton Institute; Dawson v Stonham Housing Association EAT 8-Apr-2003
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Compensation
In each case, The employee sought additional damages for non-economic loss after an unfair dismissal.
Held: The Act could be compared with the Discrimination Acts . .
Cited – Dunnachie v Kingston Upon Hull City Council CA 11-Feb-2004
Compensation for non-economic loss brought about by the manner of an unfair dismissal is, on authority and on principle, recoverable. The award of such compensation by the employment tribunal in the present case was not excessive and was adequately . .
Cited – Dunnachie v Kingston-upon-Hull City Council HL 15-Jul-2004
The claimant sought damages following his dismissal to include a sum to reflect the manner of his dismissal and the distress caused.
Held: The remarks of Lord Hoffmann in Johnson -v- Unysis were obiter. The court could not, under the section, . .
Cited – Langley and Another v Burso EAT 3-Mar-2006
The claimant had been dismissed shortly after becoming unable to work. She sought payment of her normal salary during the period of notice saying this was established good practice.
Held: ‘We are put in the invidious position of being bound by . .
Cited – Stepek (J) Ltd v Hough NIRC 1973
. .
Cited – Hilti (Great Britain) Ltd v Windridge EAT 1974
EAT The employer appealed against the tribunal’s decision to make an award to compensate the respondent for the loss of entitlement to an extended statutory notice period.
Held: The award was upheld. Lord . .
Cited – Everwear Candlewick Ltd v Isaac EAT 2-Jan-1974
Sir John Brightman referred to Norton Tool, Stepek and Hilti and then said: ‘The principle behind these three cases is clear. If an employee is unfairly dismissed without due notice and without pay in lieu of notice, he is prima facie entitled to . .
Cited – Vaughan v Weighpack Ltd NIRC 1974
(National Industrial Relations Court) In a claim for compensation for unfair dismissal, the employee should be treated as having suffered a loss in so far as he received less than he would have received in accordance with good industrial practice. . .
Applied – Blackwell v GEC Elliott Processes 1976
. .
Not applied – Tradewinds Airways v Fletcher EAT 1981
The employee, an airline pilot, was entitled to three months contractual notice. The Tribunal had awarded compensation for the full three months even although he had earned a salary from other employment during part of that period.
Bristow J . .
Cited – TBA Industrial Products Ltd v Locke EAT 1984
The employee had been unfairly dismissed with 12 weeks pay in lieu of notice.
Held: The court re-affirmed the narrow principle of Norton Tool v Tewson. Browne Wilkinson J P said: ‘It seems to us that the decision in the Tradewinds [1981] IRLR . .
Cited – Stuart Peters Limited v Bell EAT 22-Oct-2008
EAT UNFAIR DISMISSAL: Compensation/Mitigation of loss
The employee was unfairly constructively dismissed. She was entitled to a 6 month notice period that was not paid by the employees in that period, . .
Cited – Stuart Peters Ltd v Bell CA 30-Jul-2009
The claimant had a contract entitling her to six month’s notice. She left claiming constructive dismissed, but found work shortly after. She still sought the full six months’ pay. The EAT found in her favour. The employer appealed.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Damages

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.182102

Regina (on the Application of O’Brien, Hickey, Hickey) v Independent Assessor: QBD 16 Apr 2003

The claimants were to be awarded damages for having been wrongly imprisoned for many years. The respondent was to calculate the award. They complained that he had refused to particularise the award to identify and itemise non-pecuniary loss.
Held: The failure was inconsistent with the duty of transparency. Without such details, the applicants would have insufficient information to judge whether an appeal would be appropriate. The Independent Assessor was to follow the general principles for civil awards of damages, but it could not be seen whether this had been done. If later proceedings followed a judge in such proceedings would be unable to see what award had already been made.

Judges:

The Honourable Mr Justice Maurice Kay

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 855 (Admin), Times 05-May-2003, Gazette 03-Jul-2003

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Thompson v Commissioner of Police of Metropolis; Hsu v Same CA 20-Feb-1997
CS Damages of 200,000 pounds by way of exemplary damages had been awarded against the police for unlawful arrest and assault.
Held: The court gave a guideline maximum pounds 50,000 award against police for . .

Cited by:

Cited – O’Brien v Chief Constable of the South Wales Police CA 23-Jul-2003
The claimant sought damages for malicious prosecution, and sought to adduce similar fact evidence. The defendant appealed an order admitting the evidence.
Held: Comparisons between admission of similar fact evidence in civil and criminal . .
Appeal from – Independent Assessor v O’Brien, Hickey, Hickey CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimants had been imprisoned for many years before their convictions were quashed. They claimed compensation under the Act. The assessor said that there should be deducted from the award the living expenses they would have incurred if they had . .
Appeal from – Hickey and others v Independent Assessor CA 25-Feb-2004
Application for leave to appeal on measure of award of compensation for long time spent in prison as a result of miscarriage of justice. . .
At first instance – O’Brien and others v Independent Assessor HL 14-Mar-2007
The claimants had been wrongly imprisoned for a murder they did not commit. The assessor had deducted from their compensation a sum to represent the living costs they would have incurred if living freely. They also appealed differences from a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Prisons

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.181387

Langley and others v Coal Authority: CA 21 Feb 2003

The claimants were owners of properties damaged by landslip. The respondent authority asserted it had the right under the Act to elect to pay compensation rather than to executre works to re-instate the property, and also to limit the amount of compensation.
Held: The section allowed the Authority to elect either to pay compensation equal to the diminution of value in the property, or to execute works to re-instate the property. Having not made such an election, the Authority was obliged to carry out the works. That remaining duty was unaffected by the amount of costs which would have had to be allowed for if an election had been made.

Judges:

Peter Gibson, Mance LJJ, Hopper J

Citations:

Times 31-Mar-2003, [2003] EWCA Civ 204

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991 6(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Utilities, Damages, Land

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.181132

Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Niad Ltd: ChD 22 Nov 2001

The court ordered an account of profits as a remedy for breach of a contractual scheme called ‘Pricewatch’ operated by the claimant with its dealers, who agreed to report competitors’ prices and to abide by prices set daily by Esso to match the competition. Dealers received financial support by Esso for this. The defendant repeatedly failed to maintain prices, but gave repeated assurances that he would do so. Damages were inadequate, since Esso could not attribute lost sales to breach by one dealer. Yet the obligation was fundamental to its operation, and the failure gave the lie to Esso’s advertising campaign. Account was also taken of the defendant’s repetition of its breaches, and of Esso’s legitimate interest in preventing the defendant profiting. The account of profits was also appropriate when the defendant had been receiving financial support from Esso to maintain Pricewatch.

Judges:

Sir Andrew Morritt V-C

Citations:

[2001] EWHC Ch 458, [2001] All ER (D) 324

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Niad Ltd ChD 2001
Esso had entered into a solus agreement with Naid covering one filling station. Esso introduced a marketing scheme called ‘Pricewatch’ under which it made financial support available to its dealers in return for their selling petrol at recommended . .

Cited by:

Cited – Experience Hendrix LLC v PPX Enterprises Inc and Another CA 20-Mar-2003
The claimant had obtained an interim injunction against the defendant for copyright infringement, though it could show no losses. It now sought additionally damages. The defendant argued that it could not have both.
Held: The case arose form . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Contract

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.180882

Surrey County Council v Bredero Homes Ltd: CA 7 Apr 1993

A local authority had sold surplus land to a developer and obtained a covenant that the developer would develop the land in accordance with an existing planning permission. The sole purpose of the local authority in imposing the covenant was to enable it to share in the planning gain if, as happened, planning permission was subsequently granted for the erection of a larger number of houses. The purpose was that the developer would have to apply and pay for a relaxation of the covenant if it wanted to build more houses. In breach of covenant the developer completed the development in accordance with the later planning permission, and the local authority brought a claim for damages.
Held: The erection of the larger number of houses in breach of the covenant had not caused any financial loss to the local authority. The Court refused to countenance the possibility of awarding restitutionary damages for breach of contract, giving reasons why such an award should be exceptional. Wrotham Park type damages were defensible only on the basis that they were restitutionary in nature. The judge had awarded nominal damages of pounds 2, and the Court of Appeal dismissed the local authority’s appeal.
Steyn LJ distinguished between a claimant’s ‘positive or expectation interest’ and his ‘negative’ interest which enables a claim to be made for ‘reliance’ losses.

Judges:

Dillon, Steyn, Rose LJJ

Citations:

[1993] 1 WLR 1361, [1993] 3 All ER 705, [1993] EWCA Civ 7, [1993] EWCA Civ 21, [1993] EGCS 77, [1993] 25 EG 141

Links:

Bailii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Surrey County Council and Mole District Council v Bredero Homes Ltd ChD 1992
Land was agreed to be sold for development in accordance with an existing planning permission. Instead a later permission was obtained, and more houses were built. The plaintiff had not sought to restrain or prevent the breach, but now sought . .
Considered – Wrotham Park Estate Ltd v Parkside Homes Ltd ChD 1974
55 houses had been built by the defendant, knowingly in breach of a restrictive covenant, imposed for the benefit of an estate, and in the face of objections by the claimant.
Held: The restrictive covenant not to develop other than in . .
Cited – Pennard Dock Engineering Co Ltd v Pounds 1963
. .
Cited – Bracewell v Appleby ChD 1975
The defendant wrongly used and asserted a right of way over a private road to a house which he had built.
Held: To restrain the defendant from using the road would render the new house uninhabitable. The court refused an injunction on the . .
Cited – Tito v Waddell (No 2); Tito v Attorney General ChD 1977
Equity applies its doctrines to the substance, not the form, of transactions. In respect of the rule against self dealing for trustees ‘But of course equity looks beneath the surface, and applies its doctrines to cases where, although in form a . .
Cited – Johnson v Agnew HL 1979
The seller had obtained a summary order for specific performance of a contract for the sale of land against the buyer.
Held: The breach was continuing and was still capable of being remedied by compliance with the order for specific . .

Cited by:

Disapproved – HM Attorney General v Blake (Jonathan Cape Ltd third Party intervening) HL 3-Aug-2000
Restitutionary Claim against Pofits from Breach
The author had written his book in breach of his duty of confidence. Having signed the Official Secrets Act, he accepted a contractual private law duty. After conviction as a spy, the publication of the book was in breach of the undertaking by not . .
Not the last word – Jaggard v Sawyer and Another CA 18-Jul-1994
Recovery of damages after Refusal of Injunction
The plaintiff appealed against the award of damages instead of an injunction aftter the County court had found the defendant to have trespassed on his land by a new building making use of a private right of way.
Held: The appeal failed.
Cited – Experience Hendrix LLC v PPX Enterprises Inc and Another CA 20-Mar-2003
The claimant had obtained an interim injunction against the defendant for copyright infringement, though it could show no losses. It now sought additionally damages. The defendant argued that it could not have both.
Held: The case arose form . .
Cited – Feakins and Another v Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Civ 1513) CA 9-Dec-2005
The department complained that the defendants had entered into a transaction with their farm at an undervalue so as to defeat its claim for recovery of sums due. The transaction used the grant of a tenancy by the first chargee.
Held: The . .
Cited – WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) and Another v World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc CA 2-Apr-2007
The parties had disputed use of the initals WWF, with a compromise reached in 1994 allowing primary use by the Fund with restricted use by the Federation. The Federation now appealed an award of damages made after a finding of a breach of the . .
Cited – Harris v Williams-Wynne ChD 11-Feb-2005
The parties agreed in sale agreement for a plot of land that the buyer would not erect any additional building. He did so, and when he came to try to sell it the original vendor objected. The purchaser’s solicitors registered the agreement for sale. . .
Cited – Omak Maritime Ltd v Mamola Challenger Shipping Co Ltd ComC 4-Aug-2010
Lost Expenses as Damages for Contract Breach
The court was asked as to the basis in law of the principle allowing a contracting party to claim, as damages for breach, expenditure which has been wasted as a result of a breach. The charterer had been in breach of the contract but the owner had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land, Damages, Planning

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.180893

Beswick v Beswick: HL 29 Jun 1967

The deceased had assigned his coal merchant business to the respondent against a promise to pay andpound;5.00 a week to his widow whilst she lived. The respondent appealed an order requiring him to make the payments, saying that as a consolidating Act, the 1925 Act should not be read to change the common law.
Held: The House ordered specific performance of the contract on behalf of the estate though it was to make payments of money to a third party, recognising that the innocent party to the breach of contract had a legitimate interest in having the contract performed even though he himself would suffer no financial loss from its breach.
Lord Guest: ‘as this is a consolidating Act, if the words are capable of more than one construction, then the Court will give effect to that construction which does not change the law. ‘

Judges:

Lord Reid, Lord Hodson, Lord Guest, Lord Pearce, Lord Upjohn

Citations:

[1968] AC 58, [1967] 3 WLR 932, [1967] 2 All ER 1197 HL(E), [1967] UKHL 2

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Law of Property Act 1925 56(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Beswick v Beswick CA 1966
The court was asked as to breach of an agreement to pay a man’s widow an annuity for life.
Held: A plaintiff is entitled to no more than nominal damages in respect of the defendant’s breach of a contract where the plaintiff himself has . .
Cited – White v Bijou Mansions ChD 1937
The court heard an argument that section 56 of the 1925 Act had not changed the law to allow a third party to sue under a covenant to which he had not been party.
Held: Simonds J rejected an argument that section 56 enabled anyone to take . .
Cited – White v Bijou Mansions CA 1938
The court heard an rejected an argument that s56 worked to allow a third party to sue under a covenant to which he had not been party: ‘before he can enforce it he must be a person who falls within the scope and benefit of the covenant according to . .
Cited – In re Miller’s Agreement, Uniacke v Attorney-General ChD 1947
Two partners had covenanted with a retiring partner that on his death they would pay certain annuities to his daughters. The Revenue claimed estate duty.
Held: The claim was rejected. The daughters were not parties to the agreement, and had no . .
Criticised – Smith and Snipes Hall Farm Ltd v River Douglas Catchment Board CA 1949
Benefit of Covenant Ran with Land
In 1938, landowners and the Catchment Board agreed that the Board would make good and maintain the banks of a stream, with the landowners contributing to the cost. The agreement was not said to be for the benefit of the landowner’s successors in . .
Cited – Chelsea Building Society v Armstrong ChD 1951
The court considered a claim to benefit under a contract.
Held: Being in fact a party to an agreement might not be enough; the person claiming a benefit must be named a party in the indenture. . .
Cited – Drive Yourself Hire Co (London) Ltd v Strutt CA 1954
The court discussed the doctrine of privity of contract. Lord Denning MR said: ‘It is often said to be a fundamental principle of our law that only a person who is a party to a contract can sue on it. I wish to assert, as distinctly as I can, that . .
Cited – In re Foster 1938
. .
Cited – Green v Russell CA 1959
The court rejected an argument that section 56 had altered the law to allow actions by third parties under a contract. . .
Mentioned – Midland Silicones Ltd v Scruttons Ltd CA 1960
. .
Mentioned – Midland Silicones Ltd v Scruttons Ltd HL 6-Dec-1961
The defendant stevedores, engaged by the carrier, negligently damaged a drum containing chemicals. When the cargo-owners sued in tort, the stevedores unsuccessfully attempted to rely on a limitation clause contained in the bill of lading between the . .
Cited – Keenan v Handley 1864
The court considered the availability of specific performance as a remedy to a personal representative. . .
Cited – Hohler v Aston 1920
A Mrs. Aston agreed with her nephew Mr. Hohler to make provision for her niece and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Rollo. Mrs. Aston died before doing so. Mr. Hohler and Mr. And Mrs. Rollo sued the executors of Mrs. Aston for specific performance
Cited – Re Ecclesiastical Commissioner’s Conveyance 1936
. .
Cited – Grey and Another (Hunter’s Nominees) v Inland Revenue Commissioners; Orse Gray v IRC HL 2-Nov-1959
The House considered whether certain instruments which were presented for adjudication to stamp duty under section 13 of the Stamp Act 1891, are or are not chargeable with ad valorem duty.
Held: The word ‘disposition’ is to be given its . .
Cited – Tweddle v Atkinson, Executor of Guy, Deceased QBD 7-Jun-1861
An agreement was made by the fathers of a bride and groom to pay the groom a sum of money. When the bride’s father failed to pay, the groom sued.
Held: The claim failed. Wightman J said that no stranger to the consideration could take . .
Mentioned – Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company Ltd v New Garage and Motor Company Ltd HL 1-Jul-1914
The appellants contracted through an agent to supply tyres. The respondents contracted not to do certain things, and in case of breach concluded: ‘We agree to pay to the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, Ltd. the sum of 5 l. for each and every tyre, . .
Cited – Lloyd’s v Harper 1888
Lush LJ said: ‘ The next question which, no doubt, is a very important and substantial one, is, that Lloyds, having sustained no damage themselves could not recover for the losses sustained by third parties by reason of the default of Robert Henry . .
Mentioned – Drimmie v Davies 1899
. .
Cited – Coulls v Bagot’s Executor and Trustee Co Ltd 21-Mar-1967
(High Court of Australia) The court considered an action for damages by a party to a contract to enforce an obligation intended to benefit another.
Held: Windeyer J: ‘ I can see no reason why in such cases the damages which A would suffer upon . .
Cited – In re Englebach 1924
A man took out a policy payable to his daughter (then one month old) on her attaining 21. He died. She attained 21 and the policy monies were paid to her but she was then persuaded to pay them into the hands of a stakeholder pending a decision as to . .
Criticised – In re Shebsman ChD 1943
. .
Criticised – In re Shebsman CA 1944
. .
Cited – Swift v Swift PC 1863
A claim was made for specific performance of a contract for the payment of an annuity of pounds 40.00 per quarter.
Held: Specific performance was ordered. Lord Plunket LC: ‘ It is said she has a complete remedy at Law for the breach of this . .
Cited – Fortescue v Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway Coy 1894
The fact that there is a small element of personal service in a contract does not destroy the quality of mutuality want of which may in general terms properly be a ground for refusing a decree of specific performance. . .
Cited – Re Sinclair 1938
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart HL 26-Nov-1992
Reference to Parliamentary Papers behind Statute
The inspector sought to tax the benefits in kind received by teachers at a private school in having their children educated at the school for free. Having agreed this was a taxable emolument, it was argued as to whether the taxable benefit was the . .
Cited – HM Attorney General v Blake (Jonathan Cape Ltd third Party intervening) HL 3-Aug-2000
Restitutionary Claim against Pofits from Breach
The author had written his book in breach of his duty of confidence. Having signed the Official Secrets Act, he accepted a contractual private law duty. After conviction as a spy, the publication of the book was in breach of the undertaking by not . .
Cited – Wilson v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (No 2) HL 10-Jul-2003
The respondent appealed against a finding that the provision which made a loan agreement completely invalid for lack of compliance with the 1974 Act was itself invalid under the Human Rights Act since it deprived the respondent lender of its . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Contract

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.180892

Williams v Devon County Council: CA 18 Mar 2003

The claimant had recovered damages, but was ordered to pay costs since she had recovered less than was paid in. She appealed.
Held: There were anomalies in the system with regard to the recoverable social security benefits. The sums recoverable were not reduced in line with any reduction for contributory negligence, benefits could be recovered for time periods for which no award was made, and the benefits could be set off against a wider range of sums. The calculation upon which the costs decision must therefore be made to reflect no more than the amount appropriate for the head of damages against which the benefits could be offset. There remained difficulties which the court should deal with within its discretion.

Citations:

Times 25-Mar-2003, [2003] EWCA Civ 365

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Civil Procedure Rules 36.20, Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Geoffrey Chatwin v Janice Lowther CA 21-May-2003
The case concerned the meaning of the phrase ‘compensation for earnings lost’ as it applied to self employed persons.
Held: The fact that a person’s accounts described fees as turnover, did not prevent them being still earnings within the Act. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Benefits, Damages

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.180364

Irvine and others v Talksport Ltd: CA 1 Apr 2003

Mr Irvine brought an action in passing off against the defendants who were said to have used his image in its advertising, but without his consent. The claimant appealed against the damages awarded (andpound;2,000) and the defendant appealed against the finding of liability.

Judges:

Brooke, Schiemann, Jonathon Parker LJJ

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 423, [2003] FSR 35, (2003) 26(5) IPD 26029, [2003] 2 All ER (Comm) 141, [2003] 1 WLR 1576, [2003] EMLR 26, [2003] 2 All ER 881

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Irvine, Tidswell Ltd v Talksport Ltd ChD 13-Mar-2002
The defendants used a distorted image of the claimant, a famous racing driver, to endorse its product. He claimed damages in passing off.
Held: On the facts, the famous racing driver Eddie Irvine had a property right in his goodwill which he . .
See Also – Irvine and Another v Talksport Ltd CA 18-Jan-2002
The claimants renewed their application for permission to appeal from an order granting an application made by the defendant, Talksport Ltd, to exclude certain evidence which the claimants appeared to wish to adduce at the trial of the action. Mr . .

Cited by:

Cited – 32Red Plc v WHG (International) Ltd and Others ChD 12-Apr-2013
The court had found trade mark infringement by the defendant and now considered the quantification of damages. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property, Damages

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.180459

Keen v Tayside Contracts: OHCS 26 Feb 2003

The claimant sought damages for post traumatic stress disorder. He was a road worker instructed to attend by the defendant immediately after a terrible accident.
Held: It was a classic case of nervous shock. He was not a rescuer, and nor had he faced any personal danger, nor been physically injured. The range of people who might claim as secondary victims had been extended, but not yet this far. The concept of secondary victim focussed on the way the injury occurred, not how it was caused or by whom.

Judges:

Lady Paton

Citations:

Times 27-Mar-2003, [2003] ScotCS 55

Links:

Bailii, ScotC

Citing:

Cited – Alcock and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police HL 28-Nov-1991
The plaintiffs sought damages for nervous shock. They had watched on television, as their relatives and friends, 96 in all, died at a football match, for the safety of which the defendants were responsible. The defendant police service had not . .
Cited – Page v Smith HL 12-May-1995
The plaintiff was driving his car when the defendant turned into his path. Both cars suffered considerable damage but the drivers escaped physical injury. The Plaintiff had a pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which manifested itself from time . .
Cited – White, Frost and others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and others HL 3-Dec-1998
No damages for Psychiatric Harm Alone
The House considered claims by police officers who had suffered psychiatric injury after tending the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy.
Held: The general rules restricting the recovery of damages for pure psychiatric harm applied to the . .
Cited – McLoughlin v O’Brian HL 6-May-1982
The plaintiff was the mother of a child who died in an horrific accident, in which her husband and two other children were also injured. She was at home at the time of the accident, but went to the hospital immediately when she had heard what had . .
Cited – Sutherland v Hatton; Barber v Somerset County Council and similar CA 5-Feb-2002
Defendant employers appealed findings of liability for personal injuries consisting of an employee’s psychiatric illness caused by stress at work.
Held: Employers have a duty to take reasonable care for the safety of their employees. There are . .
Cited – Walker v Northumberland County Council QBD 16-Nov-1994
The plaintiff was a manager within the social services department. He suffered a mental breakdown in 1986, and had four months off work. His employers had refused to provide the increased support he requested. He had returned to work, but again, did . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Scotland, Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.180103

Sahib Foods Limited and Co-operative Insurance Society Limited v Paskin Kyriakides Sands (A Firm): TCC 3 Mar 2003

The claimants were lessees of premises, and the second claimants had contracted to purchase it. The premises burned down, and the claimants sought damages from the architect respondents. The fire began because of negligence by the claimant’s employee in a preparation area after leaving a gas fire burning.
Held: The defendants had failed in their design to provide proper safeguards. Damages were to be assessed by first assessing the total loss to Sahib (both physical and consequential in terms of trading loss), and then deducting the total of what would have been lost (both physical and consequential) if the fire had been contained but for the design fault.

Judges:

His Honour Judge Bowsher Q.C.

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 142 (TCC)

Links:

Bailii

Citing:

Cited – Bellefield Computer Services and others v E Turner and Sons Limited and others CA 18-Dec-2002
The defendants had carried out works of construction on the premises. They subcontracted the design, but not the supervision, of the works to architects. Years later there was a fire, which spread rapidly because of negligence in the design of a . .
Cited – Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee QBD 1957
Professional to use Skilled Persons Ordinary Care
Negligence was alleged against a doctor.
Held: McNair J directed the jury: ‘Where some special skill is exercised, the test for negligence is not the test of the man on the Clapham omnibus, because he has not got this special skill. The test . .
Cited – Pride Valley Foods Limited v Hall and Partners and Hall and Partners (Contract Management) Limited CA 28-Jun-2001
The defendants had advised on the construction of a plant. It later burned down, and the fire would have been less damaging but for materials used. The plaintiff sought damages for breach of contract and negligence. The judge at first instance held . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Sahib Foods Limited (In Liquidation) v Paskin Kyriakides Sands (A Firm) CA 19-Dec-2003
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Construction, Damages

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.179554

Sandeman Coprimar Sa v Transitos Y Transportes Integrales S L , Bradford Cargo Terminal Limited, Spain Tir Centro Transportes Internacionales S A , Interserve International Freight Plc, Joda Freight: CA 11 Feb 2003

Sub-bailees had lost Spanish tax seals which vouched for the respective tax having been paid whilst whisky was being transported from Scotland to Spain. The seals themselves were made of paper and had no intrinsic value. The importers claimed for the tax which would have to be paid again. The carriers appealed.
Held: No carrier could anticipate the losses without specific knowledge of the nature and purpose of the seals. This was a consequential loss, and was too remote to be claimed. The liability under the guarantees was not recoverable either by describing the it as a ‘charge incurred in respect of the carriage of goods’. The Babco case could be distinguished, and should not be applied where it was not absolutely binding.

Judges:

Mr Justice Scott Baker, Lord Justice Rix, Lord Phillips MR

Citations:

Times 13-Feb-2003, [2003] 2 WLR 1496, [2003] QB 1270, [2003] EWCA Civ 113

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965, Convention for the International Carriage of Goods by Road Geneva 1956 23.4

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Distinguished – James Buchanan and Co Ltd v Babco Forwarding and Shipping (UK) Ltd HL 1978
A consignment of whisky was stolen whilst on consignemt from a bonded warehouse under CMR terms for Teheran. In bond, it was worth 7,000 pounds, and on export no excise duty was to be paid. Being stolen in the course of transit, excise duty of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Agency

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.179041

Habton Farms (an Unlimited Company) v Nimmo: CA 6 Feb 2003

The first defendant had arranged for the purchase of a racehorse from the claimant, wrongly claiming to be acting as agent for the second defendant. The claimant did not then put forward the horse for sale in subsequent auctions, but then the horse contracted peritonitis and died.
Held: The first defendant was liable for breach of warranty of authority. Since the claimant had decided not to put the horse in the auction because he considered the horse to have been sold already, the damages were not to be reduced by what might have been recovered at auction, because that failure derived from the sale itself.

Judges:

Auld, Clarke, Jonathan Parker, LJJ

Citations:

Times 07-Feb-2003, [2003] EWCA Civ 68, [2003] 3 WLR 633, [2004] QB 1

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Animals, Contract, Damages, Agency

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.178990

MC v Italy: ECHR 19 Dec 2002

ECHR Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of P1-1 ; Violation of Art. 6-1 ; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected ; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award ; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings
The claimant had terminated a residential lease in 1990. Enforcement of possession orders was not effective because no police assistance was given. She sold the flat in 1996. She now complained that the lack of ways of enforcing the orders for possession interfered with her rights under Article 1 of Protocol 1.
Held: The delay was unreasonable. In the absence of evidence as to pecuniary losses, the court assumed there must be some losses and assessed them equitably at 3,000 Euros comparable with Bottazzi.

Citations:

32391/96, [2002] ECHR 837

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights P1-A1

Citing:

Cited – Bottazzi v Italy ECHR 28-Jul-1999
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 6-1; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Housing, Damages

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.178583

Vento v The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police (No 2): CA 20 Dec 2002

The claimant had been awarded damages for sex discrimination, including a sum of andpound;25,000 for injury to feelings. The respondent appealed.
Held: The Court of Appeal looked to see whether there had been an error of law in the employment tribunal decision. It did not look to see whether the Employment Appeal Tribunal had erred in law in reviewing that decision (Hennessy). This did not change with Civil Procedure Rules 52.11. Courts should be reluctant to award very substantial sums for injury to feelings. The most serious cases should be in the bracket andpound;15,000 to andpound;25,000, and the top figure should be exceeded only in the most exceptional cases. The court set out three broad elements of the compensation to be awarded in such cases. From andpound;5,000 to andpound;15,000 is appropriate for other serious cases. andpound;500 to andpound;5,000 is appropriate for not serious cases, including one off acts. A sum of less than andpound;500 should not be awarded, since this would appear an insult.

Judges:

Lord Justice Jonathan Parker, Lord Justice Mummery, Lord Justice Ward

Citations:

Times 27-Dec-2002, Gazette 13-Mar-2003, [2003] ICR 318, [2002] EWCA Civ 1871, [2003] IRLR 102

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Civil Procedure Rules 52.11, Sex Discrimination Act 1975 66(4), Employment Tribunals Act 1996 21 35 37

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Hennessy v Craigmyle and Co Ltd CA 1986
Sir John Donaldson MR said: ‘It is too often forgotten that, in the context of appeals from the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Appeal is a second tier of the appellate court . . second tier appellate courts are primarily concerned with the . .
See Also – The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire v Vento EAT 8-Jun-2000
EAT A claim was made for sex discrimination. The tribunal considered the approach to be taken in the absence of a real comparator.
Held: The tribunal had been correct to construct an hypothetical . .
See Also – The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police v Vento EAT 19-Oct-2001
EAT Sex Discrimination – Victimisation . .
Appeal from – The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police v Vento EAT 4-Dec-2001
EAT Sex Discrimination – Direct . .
Cited – Campion v Hanworthy Engineering Ltd CA 1987
The Court discussed the scope of the hearing in the Court of Appeal in an employment case. . .
Cited – Walls Meat Company Limited v Selby CA 1989
The court upheld an Industrial Tribunal decision that the dismissal of the employee was unfair where the employer failed to enter into any further consultation with the union or the employee after it had prepared a list of names of employees . .
Cited – Bedfordshire Police v Liversidge CA 24-May-2002
. .
Cited – Ministry of Defence v Cannock and Others EAT 2-Aug-1994
Compensation awarded for a pregnancy dismissal was to assume that the worker would ready to work again after six months. Review and guidelines of damages for unfair dismissal for pregnancy. The hypothetical question requires careful thought before . .
Cited – Johnson v HM Prison Service and Others EAT 31-Dec-1996
Awards of damages for race discrimination were proper against both the employer, and an individual racist employee. 28k was not too much. Aggravated damages might be appropriate for direct discrimination where a complainant relied upon malice of . .
Cited – Heil v Rankin CA 13-Jun-2000
Where supervening events might contribute to the personal injury suffered, the proper approach in apportioning compensation in respect of one occasion was in general terms to provide just and sufficient compensation for the injury caused without . .
Cited – Alexander v Home Office CA 1988
Prisoners are a section of the public for the purposes of the 1976 Act. The Court increased an award for injury to feelings awarded for race discrimination by prison officers from pounds 50 to pounds 500. The court considered the appropriate level . .
Cited – Gbaja-Biamila v DHL International (UK) Ltd and others EAT 1-Mar-2000
EAT Race Discrimination – Injury to Feelings
EAT Race Discrimination – Injury to feelings. . .
Cited – North West Thames Regional Health Authority v Noone CA 1988
The question of whether an employer has acted in a racially discriminatory is to be concluded not as a matter of law, but from his behaviour and almost as a matter of common sense.
May LJ said: ‘As there is not often direct evidence of . .

Cited by:

Cited – British Telecommunications plc v Reid CA 6-Oct-2003
The respondent appealed an award of pounds 10.000 for damages for an act of direct race discrimination. The claimant, of Afro-Caribbean origin, had been subjected to a racist comment.
Held: Translating hurt feelings into hard currency will . .
Cited – Dunnachie v Kingston Upon Hull City Council CA 11-Feb-2004
Compensation for non-economic loss brought about by the manner of an unfair dismissal is, on authority and on principle, recoverable. The award of such compensation by the employment tribunal in the present case was not excessive and was adequately . .
Cited – Scott v Inland Revenue CA 2-Apr-2004
The employee had claimed damages for unfair dismissal. The Revenue had subsequently changed its policy on retirement, but did not disclose this to the claimant. The change would have altered the calculation of the damages.
Held: A calculation . .
Cited – Lambe v 186K Ltd CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimant had been dismissed for redundancy, but the company had been found not to have consulted him properly, and he had therefore been unfairly dismissed. The tribunal had then found that even if consulted the result would not have been . .
Cited – KD v Chief Constable of Hampshire QBD 23-Nov-2005
The claimant’s daughter had made a complaint of rape. She alleged that she was sexually harassed by the investigating police officer, and sought damages also from the defendant, his employer. The officer denied that anything improper or . .
Cited – Miles v Gilbank CA 11-May-2006
The employee claimed she had been bullied by her manager after she became pregnant. She sought damages both from the employer and from the manager personally.
Held: The manageress was personally liable. The scheme for sex based discrimination . .
Cited – Martins v Choudhary CA 20-Dec-2007
The appellant appealed the award of damages for personal injury and harrassment. He was said to have driven the claimant off the road and to have made racist remarks. He had previously been found to be in contempt of court for breaches of . .
Cited – Abegaze v Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology CA 20-Feb-2009
In 2000 the claimant succeeded in his claim for discrimination, but had not pursued his remedy. He now appealed against a refusal to allow him to take it further. He had initially failed to pursue the matter for ill health. He later refused to . .
Cited – Ministry of Defence v Fletcher EAT 9-Oct-2009
mod_fletcherEAT2009
EAT SEX DISCRIMINATION
Injury to feelings
SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION
Where there is overlap between the basis of aggravated damages and compensation for injury to feelings, double counting . .
Cited – Chagger v Abbey National Plc and Another CA 13-Nov-2009
The claimant appealed against the limitation of 2% placed on the uplift of his award of damages for having failed to comply with relevant dispute procedures. The tribunal had found exceptional reasons for reducing the uplift given the size of the . .
Cited – Milner and Another v Carnival Plc (T/A Cunard) CA 20-Apr-2010
Damages for Disastrous Cruise
The claimants had gone on a cruise organised by the defendants. It was described by them as ‘the trip of a lifetime.’ It did not meet their expectations. There had been several complaints, including that the cabin was noisy as the floor flexed with . .
Cited – Wardle v Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank CA 11-May-2011
The claimant had been found to have been unlawfully dismissed and to have suffered nationality discrimination. Each party appealed against aspects of the compensatory award including the application of the statutory uplift, and the calculation of . .
Cited – Cairns v Modi CA 31-Oct-2012
Three appeals against the levels of damages awards were heard together, and the court considered the principles to be applied.
Held: In assessing compensation following a libel, the essential question was how much loss and damage did the . .
Cited – Ministry of Defence v Kemeh EAT 11-Mar-2013
EAT JURISDICTIONAL POINTS- Agency relationships
RACE DISCRIMINATION
Direct
Injury to feelings
Accepted, in line with EAT authority, that common law agency principles apply to Race Relations . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Discrimination, Employment

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.178542

Bruce v Dignity Funerals Ltd (Formerly SCI Funerals Ltd): EAT 22 Nov 2002

Judges:

The Honourable Lord Johnston

Citations:

EATS/0015/02, [2002] UKEAT 0015 – 02 – 2211

Links:

Bailii, EAT

Statutes:

Employment Rights Act 1996 123(1)

Citing:

Mentioned – Edwards v The Governors of Hanson School EAT 11-Jan-2001
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Procedural fairness/automatically unfair dismissal. . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Dignity Funerals Limited v Bruce OHCS 14-Oct-2004
The employee was found to have been unfairly dismissed. The employer appealed the compensatory award which was based on his depressive illness. They said that the illness predated the dismissal.
Held: The EAT’s decision was set aside. In . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Scotland, Damages

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.178501

Hewison v Meridian Shipping Pte, Coflexip Stena Offshore Ltd, Flex Installer Offshore Ltd: CA 11 Dec 2002

The claimant was awarded damages for injuries suffered in his work as a seaman. The respondents claimed that he should not receive damages, since he had made false declarations as to his health in order to obtain employment, hiding his epilepsy condition.
Held: Clunis established that the court would not support an action founded upon an illegal or immoral act. Here the action for the loss of future earnings was founded on the possibility of his continued unlawful employment. (Ward LJ dissenting)
Clarke LJ, with whom Tuckey LJ agreed, said: ‘It is common ground that there are cases in which public policy will prevent a claimant from recovering the whole of the damages which, but for the rule of public policy, he would otherwise have recovered. The principle can perhaps be stated as a variation of the maxim so that it reads ex turpi causa non oritur damnum, where the damnum is the loss which would have been recovered but for the relevant illegal or immoral act. A classic example is the principle that a person who makes his living from burglary cannot have damages assessed on the basis of what he would have earned from burglary but for the defendant’s negligence.
To my mind the authorities support that approach. They seem to me to support the proposition that where a claimant has to rely upon his or her own unlawful act in order to establish the whole or part of his or her claim the claim will fail either wholly or in part . . In the present context the principle can be seen from the decision of this court in Hunter v Butler [1996] RTR 396, although it has to be said that the case does give rise to some difficulties of interpretation . . The principle applied by Hobhouse LJ is, as I see it, that stated at p 405b, namely: ‘If a plaintiff comes to court and asserts as part of her case that she would have committed criminal acts and bases her claim on such an assertion she cannot recover in a court of law on that basis.’ That appears to me to be substantially the same test as that adopted in the ex turpi causa non oritur actio cases, as stated in the passage from the judgment of Beldam LJ in the Clunis case [1998] QB 978 . .
I am not sure whether it is quite the same principle as that applied by Waite LJ but it does not seem to me necessary to consider that question further because, since Hirst LJ agreed with the judgment of Hobhouse LJ and since the principle just stated is part of the ratio decidendi of Hunter v Butler, we are bound to follow it. . .
In my opinion Hobhouse LJ must have had in mind a case where the claimant bases his or her claim upon his or her unlawful act in a substantial way. It is not, however, in my opinion sufficient that he or she has been party to some collateral or insignificant illegality or unlawful act. Thus, . . a claimant is entitled to be compensated for his loss of earnings even though he had in the past failed to disclose them to the Inland Revenue . . .’

Judges:

Lord Justice Clarke, Lord Justice Ward, Lord Justice Tuckey

Citations:

Times 28-Dec-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 1821, [2003] PIQR 252, [2003] ICR 766, [2002] All ER (D) 146

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Clunis (By his Next Friend Prince) v Camden and Islington Health Authority CA 5-Dec-1997
The plaintiff had killed someone and, as a result, been convicted of manslaughter and ordered to be detained in a secure hospital when subject to after-care under section 117 of the 1983 Act. He sought damages from the health authority on the basis . .
Cited – Hunter v Butler 1986
. .
Appeal from – Hewison v Meridian Shipping Services Pte Ltd, Coflexip Stena Offshore Ltd, Flex Installer Offshore Ltd QBD 30-Nov-2001
The applicant had been severely injured at work. He was an epileptic, and had not disclosed his condition to his employers, who because of the safety aspects of the work on oil rigs could not have employed him if he had disclosed the sickness. The . .
Cited – Euro-Diam Ltd v Bathurst CA 1988
The court had found that securities had been registered misleadingly in the US. The court held that it could not aid illegality. The court considered the defence of ‘ex turpi cause non oritur actio’. Kerr L.J: ‘The ex turpi causa defence ultimately . .

Cited by:

Cited – Gray v Thames Trains Ltd and Another CA 25-Jun-2008
The claimant was a victim of the Ladbroke Grove rail crash. He later committed and was convicted of a manslaughter and detained under the 1983 Act. He said that the accident had caused a major personality change. The defendant relied on the defence . .
Cited – Cheltenham Borough Council v Laird QBD 15-Jun-2009
The council sought damages saying that their former chief executive had not disclosed her history of depressive illness when applying for her job.
Held: The replies were not dishonest as the form could have been misconstrued. The claim failed. . .
Cited – Moore Stephens (A Firm) v Stone Rolls Ltd (in liquidation) HL 30-Jul-2009
The appellants had audited the books of the respondent company, but had failed to identify substantial frauds by an employee of the respondent. The auditors appealed a finding of professional negligence, relying on the maxim ex turpi causa non . .
Cited – Soutzos v Asombang and Others ChD 21-Jun-2011
The claimant had obtained a freezing order against the defendants. His claim having been dismissed, the court now considered if and what damages should be paid under the cross-undertaking he had given.
Held: Setting out and applying the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.178451

Grobbelaar v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another: HL 24 Oct 2002

The claimant appealed against a decision of the Court of Appeal quashing the judgement in his favour for damages for defamation.
Held: The Court of Appeal was not able to quash a jury verdict as perverse, and the appeal succeeded. An appellate court could not substitute its own verdict on the facts for that of the jury. However it was still clear that the claimant had behaved disgracefully, and that he could have no reputation capable of being protected, and the damages award was reduced from andpound;850,000.00 to andpound;1.00. As to the withdrawal of a concession previously given: ‘Only rarely and with extreme caution will the House permit counsel to withdraw from a concession which has formed the basis of argument and judgment in the Court of Appeal.’ (Lord Bingham)
Lord Scott drew attention to the difficulty caused by the fact that the jury do not disclose their reasons. Their reasoning had to be reconstructed by the appellate court. However, he concluded that their factual conclusions should be treated with no greater, but no less, respect than the factual conclusions of judges.

Judges:

Bingham, Steyn, Hobhouse, Millett, Scott LLJ

Citations:

Times 25-Oct-2002, [2002] UKHL 40, [2002] 1 WLR 3024, [2002] 4 All ER 732, [2003] EMLR 1

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Grobbelaar v News Group Newspapers and Another CA 18-Jan-2001
. .
See Also – Grobbelaar v Sun Newspapers Ltd CA 9-Jul-1999
With the new Civil Procedure Rules, it was no longer correct that a court could not exclude evidence which was relevant, on the grounds that its probative value was outweighed by its prejudicial effect. The court now has full power and discretion to . .
Cited – O’Brien v Marquis of Salisbury QBD 1889
The court considered the jury’s verdict as to the meaning of the words complained of. Field J said: ‘If, therefore, as I think, the jury had only relevant evidence submitted to them and were properly directed as to the use they were to make of it, . .
Cited – Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd and others HL 28-Oct-1999
Fair Coment on Political Activities
The defendant newspaper had published articles wrongly accusing the claimant, the former Prime Minister of Ireland of duplicity. The paper now appealed, saying that it should have had available to it a defence of qualified privilege because of the . .
Mentioned – Regina v Mills CACD 1968
Geoffrey Lane LJ considered what was meant by ‘a bribe’: ‘Realising what we say is obiter nevertheless we feel it right to say that in our judgment it is enough that the recipient takes the gift knowing that it is intended as a bribe. By accepting . .
Mentioned – Regina v Carr CCA 1956
Lord Goddard CJ considered the elements of the offence of obtaining property by fraud. In doing so he considered the position of a defendant who took a bribe but did not then carry out what he had ben paid to do and said: ‘It does not matter if he . .
Cited – Pamplin v Express Newspapers Ltd (2) CA 1988
In considering what evidence can be used in mitigation of damages in defamation, it is necessary to draw a distinction between evidence which is put forward to show that the plaintiff is a man of bad reputation and evidence which is already before . .
Cited – Ashworth Security Hospital v MGN Limited HL 27-Jun-2002
Order for Journalist to Disclose Sources
The newspaper published details of the medical records of Ian Brady, a prisoner and patient of the applicant. The applicant sought an order requiring the defendant newspaper to disclose the identity of the source of material which appeared to have . .

Cited by:

Cited – New Zealand Meat Board and Another v Paramount Export Ltd and Another PC 26-Jul-2004
(New Zealand) Two meat exporting companies complained that the appellant’s failures had led to their own financial failures. The Board had changes its quota allocation system, which failed to allow any export quotas to the company.
Held: There . .
Cited – Armstrong v Times Newspapers Ltd and David Walsh, Alan English CA 29-Jul-2005
The claimant sought damages after publication by the first defendant of articles which it was claimed implied that he had taken drugs. The paper claimed qualified privilege, and claimed Reynolds immunity.
Held: The defence of qualified . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis v Copeland CA 22-Jul-2014
The defendant appealed against the award of damages for assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosection, saying that the question posed for the jury were misdirections, and that the jury’s decision was perverse. The claimant was attending the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation, Damages

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.177487

Kuwait Airways Corporation v Iraqi Airways Company: ComC 31 Jul 2002

Citations:

[2002] EWHC 1626 (Commercial)

Links:

Bailii

Citing:

See Also – Kuwait Airways Corp v Iraqi Airways Co 16-Feb-2005
The claimants sought an order requiring disclosure by the defendants of the documents in their list of documents which they said had the benefit of litigation privilege.
Held: A fraud had been alleged which had been used by the defendants in . .

Cited by:

See Also – Kuwait Airways Corp v Iraqi Airways Company ComC 24-Jan-2003
The court found that the defendant had brought false evidence and forged documents to seek to persuade the English court that it had state immunity, and had been partially successful, but that on the true facts it was not immune from the . .
See Also – Kuwait Airways Corp v Iraqi Airways Company ComC 12-Nov-2004
. .
See Also – Kuwait Airways Corporation v Iraqi Airways Company (No 6) CA 16-Mar-2005
The defendant company appealed against an order allowing inspection of documents for which litigation privilege had been claimed. It was said that the defendants had been involved in perjury in previous proceedings between the parties.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.175505

Hopley, Regina (on the Application of) v Liverpool Health Authority and others: Admn 30 Jul 2002

The respondent Health Authority had refused to consent to payment to the claimant of damages for personal injury by periodical payments under a with profits structured settlement made under Section 2 of the 1996 Act.
Held: The decision was not amenable to judicial review because the function being performed by the Health Authority, as it affected the claimant, was a private one.
Pitchford J set out three elements to be identified when considering whether a public body with statutory powers was exercising a public function amenable to judicial review or a private function that was not. These were:
i) Whether the defendant was a public body exercising statutory powers;
ii) Whether the function being performed in the exercise of those powers was a public or a private one; and
iii) Whether the defendant was performing a public duty owed to the claimant in the particular circumstances under consideration.

Judges:

Pitchford J

Citations:

[2002] EWHC 1723 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Damages Act 1996 2

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina (Tucker) v Director General of the National Crime Squad CA 17-Jan-2003
The applicant was a senior officer seconded to the National Crime Squad. He complained that his secondment had been terminated in a manner which was unfair, and left him tainted without opportunity to reply. He appealed against rejection of his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury, Judicial Review

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.175140

Smith and Another v South Gloucestershire Council: CA 31 Jul 2002

The claimants purchased land. The local search did not reveal a planning permission which affected the value of the property by applying an occupancy condition. He claimed compensation. Compensation was eventually agreed to be payable, but the parties did not agree as to the time at which the damage was to be assessed. At the date when the defect was discovered, or at the date of the compensation hearing.
Held: The compensation claim was equivalent to a claim in tort. The assessment of the damage would usually be as at the date it was suffered. Because they had not known of the restriction, the claimants had however invested money in the property which would now be lost. They alleged the result was similar to the situation of losses arising from a negligent survey. The ‘date of breach rule’ has exceptions. The position in tort and in contract should be the same. Here, the normal order would prove unjust to the claimants. The claimant had acted reasonably in delaying, in order to try to get the restriction lifted, and his damages would be calculated as at the later date, the date of the hearing.

Judges:

Lord Justice Ward, Lord Justice Mance and Sir Martin Nourse

Citations:

Times 30-Aug-2002, Gazette 17-Oct-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 1131

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Local Land Charges Act 1975 10

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Philips v Ward CA 1956
The Plaintiff had relied on a negligent survey to purchase a substantial Elizabethan property and land. The report did not mention that the timbers of the house were badly affected by death watch beetle and worm so that the only course left to him . .
Cited – Perry v Sidney Phillips and Son CA 1982
In 1982 the surveyor failed to observe serious defects, including a leaking roof and a septic tank with an offensive smell. The plaintiff purchaser could not afford major repairs and executed only minor repairs himself. At the date of the trial the . .
Cited – Watts and Co v Morrow CA 30-Jul-1991
The plaintiff had bought a house on the faith of the defendant’s report that there were only limited defects requiring repair. In fact the defects were much more extensive. The defendant surveyor appealed against an award of damages after his . .
Applied – Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica Inc v Herbert Broderick PC 20-Mar-2000
(Jamaica) Damage had been caused to the claimant’s property, but, because of his lack of funds, he was dependent upon the receipt of the damages to carry out the works of repair necessary. By the time the matter came to trial, inflation meant that . .
Cited – Trans Trust SPRL v Danubian Trading Co Ltd CA 1952
Lord Justice Denning said: ‘It was also said that the damages were the result of the impecuniosity of the sellers and that it was a rule of law that such damages are too remote. I do not think there is any such rule. In the case of a breach of . .
Cited – Liesbosch Dredger (Owners of) v Owners of SS Edison, The Liesbosch HL 28-Feb-1933
The ship Edison fouled the moorings of the Liesbosch resulting in the total loss of the dredger when it sank. It had been engaged on work in the harbour under contract with the harbour board. All the owners’ liquid resources were engaged in the . .
Cited – Miliangos v George Frank (Textiles) Ltd HL 1975
The issue was whether an English court was able to award damages in Sterling only.
Held: The House distinguished clearly between the substance of the debtor’s obligations and the effect of English procedural law when a debt in a foreign . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land, Damages, Local Government

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.174449

Davies v The United Kingdom: ECHR 16 Jul 2002

The applicant had been subject to applications for his disqualification from acting as a company director. The Secretary of State waited until the last day before issuing proceedings, and the proceedings were then delayed another three years pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against others. The government responded that the proceedings were complex, and the applicant himself had contributed to the delay by his own applications.
Held: The total delay was unjustified and inordinate, and the delay infringed the applicant’s right to a determination within a reasonable period of time. The domestic court had criticised the respondent for its delay. The proceedings had not been pursued with diligence. The court would not make an award of damages for financial losses, but that did not prevent an award for the stress of the delay, and an award was made in this case.
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 6-1; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings

Judges:

M Pellonpaa, President and Judges Sir Nicolas Bratza, A. Pastor Ridruejo, E. Palm, M. Fischbach, J. Casadevall and S. Pavlovschi, Section Registrar M. O’Boyle

Citations:

Times 01-Aug-2002, 42007/98, [2002] ECHR 597, (2002) 35 EHRR 720, [2002] ECHR 602

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Statutes:

Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 6, European Convention on Human Rights 6.1

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Citing:

Cited – In Re Carecraft Construction Co Ltd ChD 13-Oct-1993
A court must hear evidence before disqualifying directors. Though the Director and the Secretary of State might reach an agreement as to what should happen, they could not displace the court in deciding what order should be made, and in making that . .
Cited – Robins v The United Kingdom ECHR 23-Sep-1997
Over-long delay by court system in settling amount of costs constituted breach of human rights; order made in 1991, not settled till 1995 . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Davies and Others CA 7-Jun-1996
The lack of a good reason for delay was not terminal to a company director disqualification application. . .
Cited – Kingsley v The United Kingdom (No 2) ECHR 28-May-2002
The finding that a party had been denied a fair trial may of itself be sufficient compensation. The applicant had been excluded from management of licensed casinos. The appeal board had been found to have given the appearance of bias against him. . .
Cited – Abdulaziz etc v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-May-1985
Three women, all lawfully settled in the UK, had married third-country nationals but, at first, the Secretary of State had refused permission for their husbands to remain with them, or join them, in the UK.
Held: The refusals of permission had . .

Cited by:

Cited – Eastaway v The United Kingdom ECHR 20-Jul-2004
The applicant had been proceeded against after the collapse of companies in which he was involved with very substantial debts. The proceedings had begun in July 1990, and lasted nearly nine years.
Held: Where proceedings could be expected to . .
Cited – Greenfield, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 16-Feb-2005
The appellant had been charged with and disciplined for a prison offence. He was refused legal assistance at his hearing, and it was accepted that the proceedings involved the determination of a criminal charge within the meaning of article 6 of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Company, Damages

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.174387

McManus and others v Beckham: CA 4 Jul 2002

The claimant sought damages from the defendant who was a pop star, and had vociferously, publicly, and wrongly accused the claimant of selling pictures with fake autographs of her husband. The defendant obtained an order striking out the claim on the ground that the defendant was not responsible for repetitions of the slander by others.
Held: It was not possible to dispose of the republication issue at the interlocutory stage. Much would depend on the findings of the jury, in the light of appropriate directions. Whether the defendant was so responsible was a matter eventually for a jury to decide. She might be found liable if her own fame was such that she expected or should reasonably expect anything extraordinary which she said in public, to be reported. The striking out was set aside. It would be a question of fact for each case. ‘The reality is that the court has to decide whether, on the facts before it, it is just to hold [the defendant] responsible for the loss in question’.
Waller LJ said: ‘What the law is trying to achieve in this area is a just and reasonable result by reference to the position of a reasonable person in the position of the defendant. If a defendant is actually aware (1) that what she says or does is likely to be reported, and (2) that if she slanders someone that slander is likely to be repeated in whole or in part, there is no injustice in her being held responsible for the damage that the slander causes via that publication. I would suggest further that if a jury were to conclude that a reasonable person in the position of the defendant should have appreciated that there was a significant risk that what she said would be repeated in whole or in part in the press and that that would increase the damage caused by the slander, it is not unjust that the defendant should be liable for it. Thus I would suggest a direction along the above lines rather than by reference to ‘foreseeability’.’
Laws LJ said: ‘It will not however in my judgment be enough to show that D’s slander is a cause of X’s further publication: for such a cause might exist although D could have no reason to know of it; and then to hold D responsible would not be just. This is why the old formulae, ‘natural and probable cause,’ is inapt even as a figurative description of the relationship that needs to be shown between D’s slander and the further publication D is to be held liable for the latter. It must rather be demonstrated that D foresaw that further publication would probably take place, or that D (or a reasonable person in D’s position) should have so foreseen and that in consequence increased damage to C ‘would ensue’.
Such an approach, I hope, may go some modest distance to demythologise the law of defamation. I make it clear that I intend what I had said to be in conformity with Waller LJ’s suggestion at the end of his judgment as to how a jury might be directed, though with difference to him I think that any avoidance of the term ‘foreseeability’ is commended by the need for clarity rather than adherence to principle, for in principle the approach he proposes, and for what its worth my own reasoning, require that the damage in question flowing from X’s act be foreseen or foreseeable by D or the reasonable person in D’s position’

Judges:

Lord Justice Waller, Lord Justice Clarke and Lord Justice Laws

Citations:

Times 11-Jul-2002, Gazette 12-Sep-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 939, [2002] 1 WLR 2982, [2002] 4 All ER 497

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Approved – Slipper v British Broadcasting Corporation CA 1990
The plaintiff, a retired policeman was featured in a film about the Great Train Robbery. He sought to say that paper reviews of the film, and trailers worked to spread the libel, and should count in the assessment of damages against the defendant, . .
Explained – Ward v Weeks 1830
Complaint was made as to the publication of defamatory words addressed to one Bryce who ‘without any authority from the defendant’ repeated the same to Bryer. It was the repetition and not the original statement which ‘occasioned the Plaintiffs . .

Cited by:

Cited – Douglas and others v Hello! Ltd and others (No 3) CA 18-May-2005
The principal claimants sold the rights to take photographs of their wedding to a co-claimant magazine (OK). Persons acting on behalf of the defendants took unauthorised photographs which the defendants published. The claimants had retained joint . .
Cited – Budu v The British Broadcasting Corporation QBD 23-Mar-2010
The defendant sought to strike out the claimant’s action in defamation. It had reported that the police had withdrawn an employment offer to claimant after doubting his immigration status.
Held: The claims should be struck out. The articles . .
Cited – Baturina v Times Newspapers Ltd QBD 31-Mar-2010
The claimant sought damages in defamation in respect of an article published by the defendant newspaper. She was the wife of the Mayor of Moscow, and was required to disclose on a public list assets held by her. The defendant said that she owned a . .
Cited – Hays Plc v Hartley QBD 17-May-2010
Mr Hartley operated a news agency, and provided to the publisher of the Sunday Mirror, MGN Ltd, allegations of racism that had been levelled at the claimant company by former employees. The allegations were reported in an article headed ”KKK . .
Cited – Lewis v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis and Others (Rev 1) QBD 31-Mar-2011
The defendant sought a ruling on the meaning of the words but using section 69(4) of the 1981 Act. The claimant solicitor was acting in complaints as to the unlawful interception of celebrity voicemails by agents of the press. There had been debate . .
Cited – S v Suren and Another QBD 10-Sep-2004
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation, Media, Damages

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.174189

ATH and another (Executors of the Estate of M, decd) v MS: CA 11 Jun 2002

The claimants were the children of the deceased, seeking damages following the death of their mother. At the time of the death they were not living with their father but moved to live with him after the death. They claimed damages for the services provided by the father and his new wife.
Held: The new support accrued as a result of the accident and was to be disregarded under the section. However the trust under which any damages were paid would be unlikely to be enforced, that is the father would not ask for payment for the services, and following Hunt, if the terms of the trust seemed unlikely to be fulfilled then the court awarding damages should take steps to avoid the outcome.

Judges:

Lord Justice Kennedy, Lord Justice Tuckey and Mr Justice Jackson

Citations:

Times 03-Jul-2002, Gazette 08-Aug-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 792, [2002] 3 WLR 1179, [2003] QB 965

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Fatal Accidents Act 1976 4

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Hunt v Severs CA 13-May-1993
The plaintiff was injured by the negligence of the defendant. The defendant provided gratuitous nursing care and other assistance to the plaintiff. They married each other.
Held: Where the Plaintiff was voluntarily cared for by the Tortfeasor, . .
Disapproved – Bordin v St Mary’s NHS Trust QBD 2000
The claimant’s mother had died as a result of the negligence of the respondent.
Held: The calculation of past and future dependancy should refer to the care whether paid or unpaid actually provide or expected to be provided by the deceased. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Knauer v Ministry of Justice SC 24-Feb-2016
The court was asked: ‘whether the current approach to assessing the financial losses suffered by the dependant of a person who is wrongfully killed properly reflects the fundamental principle of full compensation, and if it does not whether we . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.172267

Wilding v British Telecom Plc: EAT 2 Apr 2001

EAT Disability Discrimination – Compensation

Judges:

The Honourable Mr Justice Charles

Citations:

EAT/901/99, [2001] UKEAT 901 – 99 – 0204

Links:

Bailii

Citing:

See Also – British Telecommunications Plc v Wilding EAT 30-Jun-1999
. .
Cited – Payzu Limited v Saunders CA 1919
The innocent plaintiff buyers had been found to have failed to mitigate their damages because they had not accepted an offer from the defendant sellers (who were in breach of contract) to supply goods on cash terms, the contract having originally . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Wilding v British Telecommunications Plc CA 19-Mar-2002
The employee challenged the Employment Tribunal’s finding, upheld by the EAT, that he had not acted reasonably in refusing an offer of re-employment made by his employer.
Held: The appeal failed. Potter LJ said: ‘As was made clear in the . .
See Also – British Telecommunications Plc v Wilding EAT 30-Jun-1999
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Discrimination, Damages

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.172057

Boateng v Hughmans (A Firm): CA 10 May 2002

The court was asked: ‘What has to be proved by the claimant in a case where the negligence of his solicitor has consisted of the failure to give him proper advice, in order to establish a sufficient causal link between the solicitor’s negligence and the loss which he has sustained and thus entitle him to substantial damages?’
Held: Sir Christopher Slade said: ‘It is by now trite law that it does not suffice for a claimant who seeks to recover substantial damages arising out of his solicitors’ failure to give him proper advice as to the risks of a proposed transaction to show that such failure occurred and that he suffered loss under the transaction. In such a case, it cannot be presumed that the negligent solicitor caused the loss. The claimant has to prove a connection, sometimes called a ‘causal link’, between the negligence and the loss which justifies making the solicitor pay substantial damages. Simple logic requires that, to show such causal link, he must first satisfy the court as to what action, if any, he would have taken to avoid the loss if proper advice had been given. If he fails to satisfy the court on this point, he can recover no more than nominal damages. Even if he satisfies the court that, in the events which happened, the loss would have been avoided if relevant advice had been given, the court will still have to decide whether the loss suffered was in fact caused by the failure to give such advice.’

Judges:

Mummery, Latham LJJ, Sir Christopher Slade

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Civ 593, [2002] Lloyds Reports PN 449

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Orientfield Holdings Ltd v Bird and Bird Llp ChD 26-Jun-2015
The c;aimant alleged breach of contract and or professional negligence by the defendant solicitors when acting for it in the purchase of land. Contracts had been exchnged but on the discovery of proposed development nearby, they had failed to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Damages

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.171244

Cape and Dalgleish v Fitzgerald and others: HL 25 Apr 2002

The employee was dismissed. After a compromise of the claims and counter claims, the employers sought damages from their accountants for failing to spot the losses. The accountants then sought to recover the damages awarded from the employee, not having been party to the settlement. Did the settlement extinguish his liability?
Held: The case of Heaton applied. Whether a settlement was a compromise of such a claim, is a matter of construction, having regard to all the relevant surrounding facts of each case. The settlement appeared to have been intended to be a broad brush approach. In this case it could not be read to be a full settlement of all losses.

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill Lord Mackay of Clashfern Lord Steyn Lord Hope of Craighead Lord Rodger of Earlsferry

Citations:

[2002] UKHL 16

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Heaton and Others v AXA Equity and Law Life Assurance Society plc and Another HL 25-Apr-2002
The claimant had settled one claim in full and final satisfaction against one party, but then sought further damages from the defendant, for issues related to a second but linked contract. The defendant claimed the benefit of the settlement.
Cited – Jameson and Another v Central Electricity Generating Board and others HL 16-Dec-1998
A joint tortfeasor’s concurrent liability was discharged entirely by a full and final settlement and compromise of the claim against the other tortfeasor if in respect of the same harm. A dependency claim made by the claimant’s executors could not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Professional Negligence

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.171308

Royal Brompton Hospital National Health Service Trust v Hammond and others: HL 25 Apr 2002

The claimants sought damages against the defendants for their late delivery of a building. The contractors sought to share the damages with the architects who had certified the delays, defeating their own claims.
Held: The Act sought to extend the circumstances under which contributions could be sought, but their claim against the architects were of a different nature to the claims they were defending. For a contribution claim to succeed under the 1978 Act, it had to be shown that the other party was ‘liable in respect of the same damage’. Even a purposive interpretation could not be used to extend the meaning to bring together different claims. The mutual discharge test in Howkins should not be used as a threshold test, but rather a practical test. The damage from delay was different from the damage of transferring legal responsibility for the delay.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill said: ‘It is plain beyond argument that one important object of the 1978 Act was to widen the classes of person between whom claims for contribution would lie and to enlarge the hitherto restricted category of causes of action capable of giving rise of such a claim. It is, however, as I understand, a constant theme of the law of contribution from the beginning that B’s claim to share with others his liability to A rests upon the fact that they (whether equally with B or not) are subject to a common liability to A. I find nothing in section 6(I)(c) of the 1935 Act or in section 1(1) of the 1978 Act, or in the reports which preceded those Acts, which in any way weakens that requirement. Indeed both sections, by using the words ‘in respect of the same damage’, emphasise the need for one loss to be apportioned among those liable.
When any claim for contribution falls to be decided the following questions in my opinion arise. (I) What damage has A suffered? (2) Is B liable to A in respect of that damage? (3) Is C also liable to A in respect of that damage or some of it? At the striking-out stage the questions must be recast to reflect the rule that is arguability and not liability which then falls for decision, but their essential thrust is the same. I do not think it matters greatly whether, in phrasing these questions, one speaks (as the 1978 Act does) of ‘damage’ or of ‘loss’ or ‘harm’, provided it is borne in mind that ‘damage’ does not mean ‘damages’ (as pointed out by Roch LJ in Birse Construction Ltd v Haiste Ltd [1996] 1 WLR 675, 682) and that B’s right to contribution by C depends on the damage, loss or harm for which B is liable to A corresponding (even if in part only) with the damage, loss or harm for which C is liable to A. This seems to me to accord with the underlying equity of the situation: it is obviously fair that C contributes to B a fair share of what both B and C owe in law to A, but obviously unfair that C should contribute to B any share of what B may owe in law to A but C does not.
Approached in this way, the claim made by the architect against the contractor must in my opinion fail in principle. It so happens that the employer and the contractor have resolved their mutual claims and counterclaims in arbitration whereas the employer seeks redress against the architect in the High Court. But for purposes of contribution the parties’ rights must be the same as if the employer had sued both the contractor and the architect in the High Court and they had exchanged contribution notices. The question would then be whether the employer was advancing a claim for damage, loss or harm for which both the contractor and the architect were liable, in which case (if the claim were established) the court would have to apportion the common liability between the two parties responsible, or whether the employer was advancing separate claims for damage, loss or harm for which the contractor and the architect were independently liable, in which case (if the claims were established) the court would have to assess the sum for which each party was liable but could not apportion a single liability between the two. It would seem to me clear that any liability the employer might prove against the contractor and the architect would be independent and not common. The employer’s claim against the contractor would be based on the contractor’s delay in performing the contract and the disruption caused by the delay, and the employer’s damage would be the increased cost it incurred, the sums it overpaid and the liquidated damages to which it was entitled. Its claim against the architect, based on negligent advice and certification, would not lead to the same damage because it could not be suggested that the architect’s negligence had led to any delay in performing the contract.’
A judge who, instead of delivering a judgment orally at the end of the argument, has reserved it to be given at a later date in writing, will circulate a draft of that judgment before handing it down. A judge may alter the draft judgment between circulating it (and receiving comments from the parties) and handing it down.

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, Lord Steyn, Lord Hope of Craighead and Lord Rodger of Earlsferry

Citations:

Times 26-Apr-2002, [2002] UKHL 14, [2002] 1 WLR 1397, [2002] 1 All ER (Comm) 897, [2003] 1 CLC 11, [2002] TCLR 14, [2002] PNLR 37, [2002] BLR 255, [2002] 2 All ER 801, 81 Con LR 1

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Statutes:

Civil Liability (Contributions) Act 1978 1(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Disapproved in part – Friends’ Provident Life Office v Hillier, Parker May and Rowden CA 1997
Friends Provident had participated in a development project on terms which required it to pay its share of the development costs as it proceeded. It employed Hillier Parker, a firm of surveyors, to check demands made from time to time for payment of . .
Cited – Hurstwood Developments Ltd v Motor and General and Andersley and Coinsurance Services Limited and Another CA 21-Nov-2001
. .
Cited – Howkins and Harrison (A Firm) v Tyler and Another ChD 9-Mar-2000
Having paid out andpound;400,000 to a lender as damages for a negligent survey valuation after default in repayments by the defendant, the claimant sought to recover the payment from the defendant under the Act. The application was refused. The Act . .
Cited – Birse Construction Ltd v Haiste Ltd CA 12-Dec-1995
A contribution order was only proper where the damage caused was the same damage to the same person. . .
Appeal from – The Royal Brompton Hospital National Health Service Trust v Hammond and Others CA 23-May-2001
. .
Appeal from – The Royal Brompton Hospital National Health Service Trust v Hammond and Others (No 5) CA 11-Apr-2001
When looking at an application to strike out a claim, the normal ‘balance of probabilities’ standard of proof did not apply. It was the court’s task to assess whether, even if supplemented by evidence at trial, the claimant’s claim was bound to fail . .
Cited – Royal Brompton Hospital National Health Trust v Hammond etc TCC 8-Jan-1999
. .
See Also – Royal Brompton Hospital National Health Trust v Hammond and others TCC 9-Dec-1999
. .
See Also – The Royal Brompton Hospital NHS Trust v Hammond and Others TCC 18-Dec-2000
. .
See Also – Royal Brompton Hospital National Health Service Trust v Hammond and others CA 9-Feb-2001
. .

Cited by:

Cited – NIRU Battery Manufacturing Company and Another v Milestone Trading Ltd and others ComC 8-May-2003
There was a contract for the sale of lead ingots. The sale was supported by letters of credit but inaccurate certificates were issued to release payment. The parties sought now to amend the contributions in the light of the Royal Brompton Hospital . .
Cited – Niru Battery Manufacturing Company, Bank Sepah Iran v Milestone Trading Limited CA 23-Oct-2003
The claimant had contracted to purchase lead from some of the defendants. There were delays in payment but when funds were made available they should have been repaid. An incorrect bill of lading was presented. The bill certified that the goods had . .
Cited – Aer Lingus v Gildacroft Ltd and Another CA 17-Jan-2006
The claimant had been found liable to pay damages for personal injury, and now sought contribution from the defendants. The defendants said that they were out of time since the contribution action had been commenced more than 2 years after the . .
See Also – Royal Brompton Hospital National Health Service Trust v Hammond and others PatC 11-Oct-2002
. .
Cited – Charter Plc and Another v City Index Ltd and others ChD 12-Oct-2006
An employee of the claimant had fraudulently spent several million pounds of the claimant’s money on personal bets through the defendant company. The claimant said that the defendants knew the origin of the funds and were liable to repay them. . .
Cited – City Index Ltd and others v Gawler and others; Charter plc v City Index Ltd CA 21-Dec-2007
A senior employee of Charter had fraudulently spent substantial sums with City Index. City Index had paid out on a claim of knowing receipt, and sought contributions from directors of Charter and their auditors, saying that they had known of the . .
Cited – Nationwide Building Society v Dunlop Haywards (HLl) Ltd (T/A Dunlop Heywood Lorenz) and Cobbetts ComC 18-Feb-2009
The claimant had leant money on a property fraudulently overvalued by an employee of the now insolvent first defendant. A contribution order had been agreed by the solicitors. The court heard applications by the claimants and the solicitors against . .
Cited – Luke v Kingsley Smith and Company and Others QBD 23-Jun-2003
The claimant sued various of those who had represented him in a claim against the Ministry of Defence. He believed that he had had to accept an inadequate sum in settlement after being at risk of losing the claim for non-prosecution. The defendant . .
Cited – Sunderland City Council v Brennan and Others EAT 2-May-2012
EAT PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Contribution
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Disclosure
(1) An employment tribunal has no jurisdiction to determine claims for contribution under the Civil Liability . .
Cited – Bath v Escott ChD 11-May-2017
Judgment need not follow hearing transcript
Application to have released the audio recording of a hearing to a county court, the applicant saying that the judgment was not a true record of the hearing.
Held: Rose J explained the status of the various elements: ‘the mere fact that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.171306

Wilding v British Telecommunications Plc: CA 19 Mar 2002

The employee challenged the Employment Tribunal’s finding, upheld by the EAT, that he had not acted reasonably in refusing an offer of re-employment made by his employer.
Held: The appeal failed. Potter LJ said: ‘As was made clear in the Judgment of the EAT, (at paragraph 64) the various authorities referred to by the Tribunal (see paragraph 22 and 23 above) and Payzu -v- Saunders are apt to establish the following principles which (in a form which I have somewhat recast) were accepted as common ground between the parties. (i) It was the duty of Mr Wilding to act in mitigation of his loss as a reasonable man unaffected by the hope of compensation from BT as his former employer; (ii) the onus was on BT as the wrongdoer to show that Mr Wilding had failed in his duty to mitigate his loss by unreasonably refusing the offer of re-employment; (iii) the test of unreasonableness is an objective one based on the totality of the evidence; (iv) in applying that test, the circumstances in which the offer was made and refused, the attitude of BT, the way in which Mr Wilding had been treated and all the surrounding circumstances should be taken into account; and (v) the court or tribunal deciding the issue must not be too stringent in its expectations of the injured party. I would add under (iv) that the circumstances to be taken into account included the state of mind of Mr Wilding.’

Judges:

Lord Justice Brooke, Potter LJ

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Civ 349

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Wilding v British Telecom Plc EAT 2-Apr-2001
EAT Disability Discrimination – Compensation . .
Cited – Payzu Limited v Saunders CA 1919
The innocent plaintiff buyers had been found to have failed to mitigate their damages because they had not accepted an offer from the defendant sellers (who were in breach of contract) to supply goods on cash terms, the contract having originally . .

Cited by:

Cited – F and G Cleaners v Saddington and Others EAT 16-Aug-2012
EAT UNFAIR DISMISSAL – Mitigation of loss
The Claimants worked for Respondent 1 who supplied window cleaning services under contract to a local authority. The contract was subject to a re-tendering process; . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Discrimination, Damages

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.170001

Robertson Or Macey-Lillie v Lanarkshire Health Board &C: OHCS 26 May 2000

Economic circumstances have not changed sufficiently yet to alter the rate of three per cent used when calculating damages in personal injury cases. Though the returns on government stocks had fallen the figure of two per cent was not yet appropriate, and lay within the range of returns contemplated when the original figures had been set.

Judges:

Lord Philip

Citations:

Times 28-Jun-2000, [2000] ScotCS 136

Links:

Bailii, ScotC

Statutes:

Damages Act 1996

Damages, Personal Injury, Scotland

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.169324

Anderson (No 126) and others and Black (No 128) and and Objections By the International Oil Pollution Compensation Board and Assuranceforeninggen Skuld (Braer) v The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund: SCS 14 Feb 2001

Outer House – The claimants sue for compensation for damage to property sustained in consequence of the wreck of the tanker Braer. The defendants raised a adefence limiting damages under the 1971 Act.

Judges:

Lord Gill

Citations:

[2001] ScotCS 34

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Merchant Shipping Act (Oil Pollution) Act 1971

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Damages

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.169099

Barry and Barry v Sutherland: SCS 23 Nov 2001

The pursuers alleged that the defender had made fraudulent misrepresentations to them when selling them his bar business. On entry they had found a set of accounts showing a lower turnover, and exercised an option to break their lease.
Held: The fact that matters did not proceed to the stage of implementation of the element of the contract comprising the sale necessarily precludes any measurement of loss by reference to a value difference at the transaction date.

Judges:

Lord Eassie

Citations:

2002 SLT 413, [2001] ScotCS 268

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Citing:

See also – utherland v Barry and Barry SCS 23-Nov-2001
. .
Cited – Manners v Whitehead SCS 1898
(Inner House) An innocent misrepresentation does not give rise to damages. To be actionable it must be made fraudulently, but a person to whom a fraudulent representation of the profitability of a business, or a business opportunity, had been made . .

Cited by:

See also – utherland v Barry and Barry SCS 23-Nov-2001
. .
Cited – AMEC Mining v Scottish Coal Company SCS 6-Aug-2003
The pursuers contracted to remove coal by opencast mining from the defender’s land. They said the contract assumed the removal first of substantial peat depositys from the surface by a third party. They had to do that themselves at substantial cost. . .
See Also – utherland v Barry and Barry SCS 23-Nov-2001
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Damages

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.168874

Admiral Management Services Ltd v Para-Protect Europe Ltd and Others: ChD 4 Mar 2002

The claimants suspected the defendants of wrongfully using their confidential information. Their staff made an initial investigation. They obtained a search and seizure order; and the material seized was examined by the staff. A Tomlin Order was made, under which an issue between the parties as to the defendants’ liability to the claimants for their staff costs referable to the investigation and examination was referred to a judge.
Held: In general a party’s own employees’ expenses incurred in investigating a claim were not recoverable, but the exception in Nossen was not limited to patents challenges, and could include other intellectual property tort claims. The test was whether if the company had employed an external expert, that expert’s expenses would also have been recoverable, and or where revenue has been lost as a result of the employee being unavailable to carry out revenue producing work.
Stanley Burnton J: ‘Of course, it may be difficult to quantify any loss of revenue or business consequential on the diversion of employee time to dealing with the tort or breach of contract suffered by an employer. It may be that the cost of employee time may be taken as an approximation for the loss of revenue involved; but, if so, the claim remains a claim for loss of revenue rather than a claim for expenditure occasioned by the tort or breach of contract.’

Judges:

Mr Justice Stanley Burnton

Citations:

Times 26-Mar-2002, Gazette 18-Apr-2002, [2002] 1 WLR 2722, [2002] EWHC 233 (Ch), [2002] FSR 59, [2002] CP Rep 37, [2003] 2 All ER 1017, [2003] 1 Costs LR 1

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – In re Nossen’s Letter Patent 1969
. .
Cited – Tate and Lyle Distribution v Greater London Council 1982
The defendants were liable to the claimants for having failed to dredge silt which they had caused to be accumulated when constructing new piers for the Woolwich ferry and which had obstructed the claimants’ use of their barge moorings. The result . .
Cited – British Motor Trade Association v Salvadori 1949
The plaintiff was a trade association whose policy was to enforce the fixing of prices of motor cars, at a time when the demand for cars greatly exceeded the supply, so that there were large profits to be made by anyone who could acquire a new car . .

Cited by:

Cited – Carisbrooke Shipping Cv5 v Bird Port Ltd ComC 13-Sep-2005
. .
Cited – Sisu Capital Fund Ltd and others v Tucker and others 28-Oct-2005
The Defendants were accountants who had been sued through their partnership in KPMG. They had been granted a order for their costs. They sought payment for the time they had spent prersonally in preparing their defences.
Held: As professionals . .
Cited – R+V Versicherung Ag v Risk Insurance and Reinsurance Solutions Sa and others ComC 27-Jan-2006
It had held that the defendant insurance intermediaries were liable to the claimants, a German reinsurance company, because of a conspiracy to defraud the claimants on the part of one of the defendants’ employees. The court had to decide issues of . .
Cited – Aerospace Publishing Ltd and Another v Thames Water Utilities Ltd CA 11-Jan-2007
A substantial private archive of valuable books had been damaged when the defendant’s water mains burst. The court was asked to assess the value.
Held: The water company’s appeal failed save to a small extent. The articles were of substantial . .
Cited – Oceanbulk Shipping and Trading Sa v TMT Asia Ltd CA 15-Feb-2010
The parties had settled their disagreement, but now disputed the interpretation of the settlement. The defendant sought to be allowed to give in evidence correspondence leading up to the settlement which had been conducted on a without prejudice . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property, Damages

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.168072

Lowe v Guise: CA 26 Feb 2002

The claimant had care of his severely disabled brother. Following the accident he was unable to give the same level of care, though he continued to receive the care allowance.
Held: An injured claimant who worked, albeit gratuitously, for his family suffered the loss of being able to contribute the value of his service to the needs of his family. That loss was genuine and sounded in damages. To allow otherwise would be to make the loss of an ability to garden measurable in damages but not the ability to care for a family member.

Judges:

Lord Justice Potter, Lord Justice Rix and Mr Justice Morland

Citations:

Times 25-Mar-2002, Gazette 11-Apr-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 197

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Damages, Benefits, Personal Injury

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167956

Roerig v Valiant Trawlers Ltd: CA 28 Jan 2002

The claimant who was Dutch, was a widow of a fisherman who had died at sea. The question on appeal was ‘in assessing damages for loss of dependency should benefits resulting from the loss be deducted from the damages?’ The claimant’s position under Dutch law was different, with all benefits deducted from any compensation awarded.
Held: The accident occurred on an English registered trawler, and the applicable law was English as to liability but possibly Dutch as to damages. If the 1976 Act was procedural rather than substantive, the law applicable would be English, and the Dutch law as to deduction of all benefits would not apply. Traditionally, issues as to the quantification of damages have been seen as procedural rather than substantive. The general structure of the Act also suggested that it was intended to offer English remedies, and those should be applied: ‘the general rule is not to be dislodged easily’.
After referring to the case of Boys v Chaplin, Waller LJ said: ‘The passages referred to support the view that so far as damages are concerned it is a question for the substantive law whether a head of damage is recoverable, but quantification of the actual head is procedural. If one poses the question whether the issue in this case is about the right to recover certain benefits or whether it is about the quantification of the damages for loss of dependency the answer seems to me to be that it is about the quantification of the damages. The concern of the court in considering a tortious claim should be as to liability, including liability for particular heads of damage without the existence of which liability might not be complete. The question whether deductions should be made for benefits is not a question which goes to liability: it is a question going to assessment’ and ‘Procedurally an action on behalf of a person killed in an accident is only available in the English courts by virtue of what is now sections 1 and 2 of the 1976 Act . . As I have already said, we are concerned with an action which can only be brought in this country by virtue of the 1976 Act.’

Judges:

Lord Justice Simon Brown Vice-President Of The Court Of Appeal Civil Division, Lord Justice Waller, Lord Justice Sedley

Citations:

[2002] All ER (D) 234, [2002] EWCA Civ 21, [2002] 1 WLR 2304

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Fatal Accidents Act 1976 4, Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995 11, Merchant Shipping Act 1995 25

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Coupland v Arabian Gulf Oil Co QBD 1983
The plaintiff employee, injured whilst working for the defendant in Libya, sued in contract and tort. The judge held that Libyan law was the proper law of the contract, but that this was of no relevance to the claim in tort which could proceed here . .
Approved – Stevens v Head 18-Mar-1993
(High Court of Australia) The court considered a claim for damages arising out of a motor accident in New South Wales, where the claim had been brought in the courts of Queensland. The questions arose as to whether or not a provision in the Motor . .
Cited – Boys v Chaplin HL 1969
The plaintiff sued in England for a traffic accident which had happened in Malta. The law of Malta would have denied certain elements of damages which would be available in this jurisdiction.
Held: Liability in respect of the road accident in . .
Cited – Edmunds v Simmonds QBD 4-Oct-2000
The claimant suffered damages in a road traffic accident in Spain caused by the respondent. A Spanish court would have allowed much lower damages. Such damages should normally be assessed in accordance with the law of the country where the accident . .
Cited – Caltex Singapore Pte Ltd v BP Shipping Ltd 1996
A provision of Singapore law giving a ship-owner the right to limit his liability for damage resulting from a collision in Singapore was procedural, or at least not substantive. The limitation in question did not qualify the right of the claimants . .
Cited – Breavington v Godleman 18-Aug-1988
Austlii (High Court of Australia) – Private International Law – Tort – Negligence – Act committed in Territory – Personal injury – Territory statute imposing limit on amount of damages – Action in State court – . .
Cited – Breavington v Godleman 18-Aug-1988
Austlii (High Court of Australia) – Private International Law – Tort – Negligence – Act committed in Territory – Personal injury – Territory statute imposing limit on amount of damages – Action in State court – . .
Cited – The Esso Malaysia 1974
A Russian seaman died as the result of a collision in international waters between two foreign registered vessels. His family sought to claim here.
Held: The benefit of the Fatal Accidents Acts can, in principle, be claimed by a foreigner. The . .
Cited – White v Brunton CA 1984
A judgment given upon a trial of a preliminary issue was held to be a final judgment for the purpose of deciding whether leave to appeal was required on the ground that it could be treated as the first part of a final hearing. Sir John Donaldson MR . .
Cited – Holmes v Bangladesh Binan Corporation 1988
An appeal was sought from a judge’s order deciding a preliminary issue of law. The claimant sought damages under the Fatal Accidents Act case.
Held: Bingham LJ said: ‘Order 33, r. 3 gives the Court a wide discretion to order the separate trial . .
Cited – Tanfern Ltd v Cameron-MacDonald, Cameron-MacDonald CA 12-May-2000
The court gave detailed guidance on the application of the new procedures on civil appeals in private law cases introduced on May 2. Appeals from a County Court District Judge’s final decision in a multi-track case could now go straight to the Court . .

Cited by:

Cited – Harding v Wealands CA 17-Dec-2004
The claimant sought damages here for a road traffic accident which had occurred in Australia. The defendant was working in England. The defendant argued that the law of New South Wales applied.
Held: The general rule in section 11 was not to . .
Cited – Al-Jedda v Secretary of State for Defence CA 29-Mar-2006
The applicant had dual Iraqi and British nationality. He was detained by British Forces in Iraq under suspicion of terrorism, and interned.
Held: His appeal failed. The UN resolution took priority over the European Convention on Human Rights . .
Cited – Harding v Wealands HL 5-Jul-2006
Claim in UK for Accident in Australia
The claimant had been a passenger in a car driven by his now partner. They had an accident in New South Wales. The car was insured in Australia. He sought leave to sue in England and Wales because Australian law would limit the damages.
Held: . .
Cited – In the Matter of T and N Limited and others ChD 12-Apr-2006
. .
Cited – Bristow Helicopters Ltd and Another v Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Incorporated In and Under Laws of Delaware USA) and others ComC 5-Mar-2004
. .
Cited – Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust and Another v Williams CA 15-Feb-2008
The court considered the essential philosophy underwriting the 1976 Act. Smith LJ said: ‘nothing that a dependant (or for that matter anyone else) could do after death could either increase or decrease the dependency. The dependency is fixed at the . .
Cited – Saldanha v Fulton Navigation Inc AdCt 10-May-2011
. .
Cited – Cox v Ergo Versicherung Ag CA 25-Jun-2012
The deceased member of the armed forces had died in a road traffic accident in Germany. The parties didputed whether the principles governing the calculation of damages were those in the 1976 Act and UK law, or under German law.
Held: ‘There . .
Cited – VTB Capital Plc v Nutritek International Corp and Others SC 6-Feb-2013
The claimant bank said that it had been induced to create very substantial lending facilities by fraudulent misrepresentation by the defendants. They now appealed against findings that England was not clearly or distinctly the appropriate forum for . .
Cited – Cox v Ergo Versicherung Ag and Another QBD 28-Oct-2011
The deceased died in a road traffic accident whilst serving in the Armed forces in Germany. The driver was insured under German law. The widow now claimed damages in England. She had entered a new relationship.
Held: The object of section 844 . .
Cited – Cox v Ergo Versicherung Ag SC 2-Apr-2014
The deceased army officer serving in Germany died while cycling when hit by a driver insured under German law. His widow, the claimant, being domiciled in England brought her action here, claiming for bereavement and loss of dependency. The Court . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury, International

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167900

Kiam v MGN Ltd: CA 28 Jan 2002

Where a court regards a jury award in a defamation case as excessive, a ‘proper’ award can be substituted for it is not whatever sum court thinks appropriate, wholly uninfluenced by jury’s view, but the highest award which a jury could reasonably have thought necessary. ‘In a great many cases proof of a cold-blooded cost-benefit calculation that it was worth publishing a known libel is not there, and the ineffectiveness of a moderate award in deterring future libels is painfully apparent . . judges, juries and the public face the conundrum that compensation proportioned to personal injury damages is insufficient to deter, and that deterrent awards make a mockery of the principle of compensation.’
Awards in an adequate amount may also be necessary to deter the media from riding roughshod over the rights of other citizens. ‘[I]n a great many cases proof of a cold-blooded cost benefit calculation that it was worth publishing a known libel is not there, and the ineffectiveness of a moderate award in deterring future libels is painfully apparent . . Judges, juries and the public face the conundrum that compensation proportioned to personal injury damages is insufficient to deter, and that deterrent awards make a mockery of the principle of compensation.’

Judges:

Lords Justice Simon Brown, Waller and Sedley

Citations:

Gazette 15-Mar-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 43, [2002] 1 WLR 2810, [2003] QB 281

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) (‘Spycatcher’) HL 13-Oct-1988
Loss of Confidentiality Protection – public domain
A retired secret service employee sought to publish his memoirs from Australia. The British government sought to restrain publication there, and the defendants sought to report those proceedings, which would involve publication of the allegations . .
Cited – Kiam v Neill and Another (No 2) CA 26-Jul-1996
An allegation of insolvency was made against a well known businessman. An apology in agreed terms was published after 3 weeks.
Held: A jury award of 45,000 in damages was not excessive for a libel despite an apology having been given. The . .
Cited – Rantzen v Mirror Group Newspapers (1986) Ltd and Others CA 1-Apr-1993
Four articles in the People all covered the same story about Esther Rantzen’s organisation, Childline, suggesting that the plaintiff had protected a teacher who had revealed to Childline abuses of children occurring at a school where he taught, by . .
Cited – Sutcliffe v Pressdram Ltd CA 1991
A 600,000 pound compensatory award was set aside by the Court of Appeal on the grounds that it must have been made on the wrong basis, almost certainly so as to punish Private Eye. The Court of Appeal could not substitute its own award for that of a . .
Cited – Youssoupoff v MGM Pictures CA 1934
The plaintiff (herself a Princess) complained that she could be identified with the character Princess Natasha in the film ‘Rasputin, the Mad Monk’. On the basis that the film suggested that, by reason of her identification with ‘Princess Natasha’, . .
Cited – Khodaparast v Farrokh-Shad CA 26-Feb-1997
The claimant an Iranian woman teacher at an Iranian religious school in London claimed damages for malicious falsehood from her former lover. He created documents using her photographs superimposed on pornographic pictures from a magazine and . .
Cited – Jones v Pollard, Mirror Group Newspapers Limited and Bailey CA 12-Dec-1996
Articles in consecutive issues of The Sunday Mirror accused the plaintiff of pimping for the KGB, organising sex with prostitutes for visiting British businessmen and then blackmailing them. The defendants pleaded justification. The plaintiff . .
Cited – John v MGN Ltd CA 12-Dec-1995
Defamation – Large Damages Awards
MGN appealed as to the level of damages awarded against it namely pounds 350,000 damages, comprising pounds 75,000 compensatory damages and pounds 275,000 exemplary damages. The newspaper contended that as a matter of principle there is no scope in . .
Cited – Houston v Smith CA 16-Dec-1993
Doctors operated within the same building. The defendant falsely accused the plaintiff of harassing her and her staff, groping them and fondling them sexually. The allegation was made in the hearing of several of the plaintiff’s patients in the . .
Cited – Gorman v Mudd CA 15-Oct-1992
The plaintiff, a Conservative MP, complained of a ‘mock press release’ written and circulated by the defendant, Mudd, a prominent member of the local community and chairman of the Billericay Conservative Businessman’s Association, to ninety-one . .
Cited – Heil v Rankin, Rees v Mabco (102) Ltd, Schofield v Saunders and Taylor Ltd and Other cases CA 23-Mar-2000
The Law Commission had recommended that the general level of damages awarded for pain suffering and loss of amenity in personal injury cases should be raised. The Court now considered several cases on the issue.
Held: The court would do so. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Brawley v Marczynski and Another CA 21-Oct-2002
The defendants appealed an award of costs on an indemnity basis against them in the favour of a legally aided claimant.
Held: Indemnity costs were often intended to indicate disapproval of a party’s behaviour in an action, and were awarded in . .
Cited – Gleaner Company Ltd and Another v Abrahams PC 14-Jul-2003
Punitive Defamation Damages Order Sustained
(Jamaica) The appellants challenged a substantial award of damages for defamation. They had wrongfully accused a government minister of corruption. There was evidence of substantial financial loss. ‘For nearly sixteen years the defendants, with all . .
Cited – Nail and Another v News Group Newspapers Ltd and others CA 20-Dec-2004
The claimant appealed the award of damages in his claim for defamation. The defendants had variously issued apologies. The claimant had not complained initially as to one publication.
Held: In defamation proceedings the damage to feelings is . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Defamation

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167886

Hurstwood Developments Ltd v Motor and General and Andersley and Coinsurance Services Limited and Another: CA 21 Nov 2001

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1785

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 1(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Royal Brompton Hospital National Health Service Trust v Hammond and others HL 25-Apr-2002
The claimants sought damages against the defendants for their late delivery of a building. The contractors sought to share the damages with the architects who had certified the delays, defeating their own claims.
Held: The Act sought to extend . .
Cited – Charter Plc and Another v City Index Ltd and others ChD 12-Oct-2006
An employee of the claimant had fraudulently spent several million pounds of the claimant’s money on personal bets through the defendant company. The claimant said that the defendants knew the origin of the funds and were liable to repay them. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167829

Regina (on the Application of Mullen) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department: QBD 21 Feb 2002

The applicant had been convicted in 1990 of conspiracy to cause explosions. He had been arrested by means of an unlawful eviction from Zimbabwe, and his appeal had been successful after ten years in prison. He now appealed against a refusal to award him compensation for his imprisonment, and said that the provision of ex gratia payments only infringed his human rights.
Held: The Appeal had succeeded not for any doubt about the accuracy of the finding, but rather as to the propriety of the conviction, but certainty of guilt cannot displace the essence abuse of process, namely the degradation of the lawful administration of justice. That the appeal succeeded was an exercise of discretion, not a revelation of a miscarriage of justice. The Home Secretary was not an independent tribunal for making such a decision. However the Secretary merely applied the findings of the court, and did not himself have discretion. There had been no legitimate expectation created, and nor was there any inconsistency between the allowing of the appeal, and the refusal of compensation. Appeal dismissed.

Judges:

Lord Justice Simon Brown, Mr Justice Scott Baker

Citations:

Times 27-Feb-2002, Gazette 28-Mar-2002, 2002] EWHC 230 (Admin), [2002] 1 WLR 1857

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 1988 133, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 14(6), European Convention on Human Rights Seventh Protocol Art 3

Citing:

Appealed to – Regina (on the Application of Mullen) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 20-Dec-2002
The applicant had been unlawfully taken from Zimbabwe, then tried and sentenced in the UK. His conviction was set aside as unsafe, but he had been refused damages. He appealed.
Held: There was no substantial criticism of the trial itself, but . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina (on the Application of Mullen) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 20-Dec-2002
The applicant had been unlawfully taken from Zimbabwe, then tried and sentenced in the UK. His conviction was set aside as unsafe, but he had been refused damages. He appealed.
Held: There was no substantial criticism of the trial itself, but . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Administrative, Damages, Human Rights

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167664

Jaura v Ahmed: CA 21 Feb 2002

The applicant sought damages for the wrongful termination of her lease by the respondent. The landlords re-entered in default of payment of the rent. The premises had been sub-let, and she sought damages for the loss of rental profits.
Held: The judge had admitted evidence which was not in formal form, but it was within his discretion to do so. The judge was wrong to award the capital value of the lease in addition to the loss of profits. He had awarded simple interest on the damages at 8% rather than the overdraft rate paid by the claimant. The court decided that the rate payable should reflect better the real cost of a small businessman borrowing that money, and allowed the appeal to that extent, but not compounded.
Rix LJ dealt with the question of setting the interest rate by first referring to Chitty on Contracts: ‘In business contexts, the rate of interest should reflect the current commercial rate. The approach of the Commercial Court is to award interest at a rate which broadly represents the rate at which the successful party would have had to borrow the amount recovered over the period in question.’ and then noted that a rate of 1% above base rate had become the usual rate adopted by the Commercial Court, albeit that this was ‘only a presumption’ and could be varied up or down to meet the fairness of the parties’ particular situation.

Judges:

Lord Justice Potter, Lord Justice Mummery, And, Lord Justice Rix

Citations:

Times 18-Mar-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 210

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Civil Evidence Act 1995 2(4), Supreme Court Act 1981 35A

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Douglas and others v Hello! Ltd and others ChD 23-Jan-2004
. .
Cited – Aerospace Publishing Ltd and Another v Thames Water Utilities Ltd CA 11-Jan-2007
A substantial private archive of valuable books had been damaged when the defendant’s water mains burst. The court was asked to assess the value.
Held: The water company’s appeal failed save to a small extent. The articles were of substantial . .
Cited – Bim Kemi Ab v Blackburn Chemicals Ltd CA 24-Jun-2003
It had been argued by the claimant in written submissions (although not maintained orally) that an order for payment of pre-judgment interest on costs should never be made. As to an award of interest on costs:- ‘In any event in principle there seems . .
Cited – Jones and Others v Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and Another QBD 3-May-2013
The claimants sought an order for pre-judgment interest on the disbursements incurred in this group litigation. The clients were liable for payment of the disbursements under the conditional fee agreements, and in this case these amounted to over . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Evidence, Damages

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167646

Voaden v Champion ( ‘Baltic Surveyor’ ): CA 31 Jan 2002

The ‘Baltic Surveyor’ was lost at its moorings in a storm. A neighbouring ship had been negligently secured, and freed itself and sank the Baltic Surveyor. The owner appealed findings as to the value of the boat, and securing pontoon. She asserted that the boat chosen for comparison had in fact been sold for more and had been in a lesser condition. The boat was of a unique and historical character.
Held: There had been an error as to the sale price of the boat chosen as a comparable. It was argued that the evidence sought to be admitted had been available at trial, and should not now be admitted. Following Ladd, the court applied three tests, that it had not reasonably have been available, that it would have been influential, and that it was credible. Those conditions applied, and a new value was assessed by the court. The appellants argued that the loss of the pontoon should have been treated as the loss of a building rather than a machine. The damages was the cost of replacing the pontoon, not the value of what was lost. The court found the judge’s assessment correct, and the damages were assessed on the basis of the remaining life of the pontoon as a chattel. It was not proper to award damages for loss of personal use in top of the award of the full value of the boat.

Judges:

Lord Justice Schiemann Lady Justice Hale And Lord Justice Rix

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Civ 89, [2002] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 623

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Voaden v Champion, ‘The Baltic Surveyor’ 2001
. .
Cited – Ladd v Marshall CA 29-Nov-1954
Conditions for new evidence on appeal
At the trial, the wife of the appellant’s opponent said she had forgotten certain events. After the trial she began divorce proceedings, and informed the appellant that she now remembered. He sought either to appeal admitting fresh evidence, or for . .

Cited by:

Cited – Robot Arenas Ltd and Another v Waterfield and Another QBD 8-Feb-2010
The tenant company had defaulted under the lease, and the landlord had retaken possession. The landlord discarded the tenant’s possessions, and the tenant now sued, saying that the landlords as involuntary bailees owed duties to the proper owner. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Transport, Evidence, Damages

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167537

Rees v Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust: CA 14 Feb 2002

A disabled mother sought damages for the birth of a child after a negligently performed sterilisation.
Held: The rule in McFarlane against recovery of damages for the birth of a healthy child, did not prevent an award which was intended to reflect the particular damages attributable to the difficulties of providing care with her disabilities.

Judges:

Lord Justice Waller, Lord Justice Robert Walker, And, Lady Justice Hale

Citations:

Times 20-Feb-2002, Gazette 21-Mar-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 88, [2003] QB 20

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – MacFarlane and Another v Tayside Health Board HL 21-Oct-1999
Child born after vasectomy – Damages Limited
Despite a vasectomy, Mr MacFarlane fathered a child, and he and his wife sought damages for the cost of care and otherwise of the child. He appealed a rejection of his claim.
Held: The doctor undertakes a duty of care in regard to the . .

Cited by:

Cited – A v East Kent Community NHS Trust CA 17-Dec-2002
The claimant had become pregnant whilst placed in a mixed psychiatric ward. She claimed damages for their negligence. They responded that damages were not payable for a healthy child.
Held: The court was bound by Rees, and damages were not to . .
Appeal from – Rees v Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust HL 16-Oct-2003
The claimant was disabled, and sought sterilisation because she feared the additional difficulties she would face as a mother. The sterilisation failed. She sought damages.
Held: The House having considered the issue in MacFarlane only . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167610

Husain and Zafar v Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA: CA 31 Jan 2002

The appellants challenged the refusal of their claims for stigma damages following the collapse of their former employer.
Held: If a relevant breach of contract is established, and causation, remoteness and mitigation are satisfied, recovery of financial loss in respect of damage to reputation in employment cases is not excluded. Nevertheless, it will be difficult to prove. The claim was the same whether in tort or in contract. The judge had excluded certain evidence as to the damages suffered. The onus of proving causation lies on the plaintiff. The particular claimants in this case had failed to establish their case. It was not necessary to call similar the evidence sought to be admitted. To require it would exclude many proper claims.

Judges:

Lord Justice Pill, Lord Justice Robert Walker, And, Lord Justice Jonathan Parker

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Civ 82, [2002] 3 All ER 750, [2002] ICR 1258, [2002] IRLR 460, [2002] Emp LR 406, A3/2001/9016/CHANF

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Malik v Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI); Mahmud v Bank of Credit and Commerce International HL 12-Jun-1997
Allowance of Stigma Damages
The employees claimed damages, saying that the way in which their employer had behaved during their employment had led to continuing losses, ‘stigma damages’ after the termination.
Held: It is an implied term of any contract of employment that . .
Cited – Robinson v Harman 18-Jan-1848
Damages for breach of contract should compensate the victim of the breach for the loss of his contractual bargain. Baron Parke said: ‘The next question is: What damages is the plaintiff entitled to recover? The rule of the common law is, that where . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Employment, Contract, Torts – Other

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167559

Westminster City Council v Ocean Leisure Limited: CA 21 Jul 2004

The claimant company owned property next to land which had been acquired to build a new bridge across the Thames. It sought compensation for disturbance to its business from the works.
Held: The state of the law was complicated and unsatisfactory. Compensation was in fact payable, though by a circuitous route. There was no special rule applying to hoardings, and the claim succeded. The statutory power given to the local authority necessarily carried also a responsibility toward neighbouring land owners.

Judges:

Potter, Lord Justice Potter Lord Justice Rix Lord Justice Carnwath

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 970, Times 02-Sep-2004

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Compulsory Purchase Act 1965 10

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Andreae v Selfridge and Co Ltd CA 1938
The plaintiff had a hotel. The rest of the island had been acquired by the defendant which was demolishing and rebuilding the other properties. The plaintiff complained, and the judge found, that by reason of the operations, which involved noise and . .
Cited – Wildtree Hotels Ltd and others v Harrow London Borough Council HL 22-Jun-2000
The compensation which was payable for disturbance, when works were carried out on land acquired compulsorily, did not extend to the damage caused by noise dust and vibration arising from the works. Where however damage could be brought within the . .
Cited – Clift and Another v Welsh Office CA 23-Jul-1998
Whilst it was settled law that no compensation was payable for temporary disturbance to neighbouring land by building works on land compulsorily purchased, as soon as that disturbance came to produce physical damage, compensation became payable. . .
Cited – Caledonian Railway Co v Walker’s Trustees 1882
The court considered the extent of the duty to compensate for disturbance of a business when land was compulsorily purchased. Lord Selborne LC said: ‘The obstruction by the execution of the work, of a man’s direct access to his house or land, . .
Cited – Herring v Metropolitan Board of Works CCP 1865
All the main sewers in the metropolis were vested in the Metropolitan Board of Works by the Act, gaving it wide powers to maintain and improve them, and for that purpose to carry out works in streets and other land, ‘making compensation for any . .
Cited – Lingke v Christchurch Corporation CA 1912
The householder sought compensation under the Act, for the disturbance in the laying of a drain in the highway abutting the claimant’s house and furniture shop. Because of the constraints of the work site, excavated soil had been thrown up against . .
Cited – Rex v Jones 1811
(Year?) A land owner has the right to obstruct the highway for the purpose of repairing his house so long as the inconvenience is ‘necessarily’ so caused and it is not prolonged for an unreasonable time. . .
Cited – Leonidis v Thames Water Authority 1979
Access to the plaintiff’s motor repair business was interfered with by work to reconstruct a sewer. Whilst access was still possible it required a long detour and there was no physical interference with the entrance to the premises.
Held: If a . .
Cited – Harper v GN Haden and Sons CA 1932
The occupier of a ground floor and basement shop sought damages from the tenants of the upper floors. In order to construct an additional storey, they had erected scaffolding and a hoarding which obstructed the highway outside the plaintiff’s . .
Cited – Argyle Motors (Birkenhead) v Birkenhead Corporation HL 1974
The House described the way that the 1845 Act continued to affect the calculation of compensation: ‘The relevant section of the Act of 1845 (section 68) has, over 100 years, received through a number of decisions, some in this House, and by no means . .
Appeal from – Ocean Leisure Ltd v Westminster City Council LT 31-Dec-2003
LT COMPENSATION – injurious affection – hoardings erected in street during construction works outside shop premises – preliminary issue – whether claim under Compulsory Purchase Act 1965 s 10 valid – held . .

Cited by:

Cited – Moto Hospitality Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport CA 26-Jul-2007
The company sought damages to its business on a motorway service station when works closed an access road.
Held: The Secretary of State’s appeal succeeded. A claim for compensation under section 10 had not been established, at least in respect . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land, Damages

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.199491

Leonidis v Thames Water Authority: 1979

Access to the plaintiff’s motor repair business was interfered with by work to reconstruct a sewer. Whilst access was still possible it required a long detour and there was no physical interference with the entrance to the premises.
Held: If a private individual had interfered with access as the statutory authority had done then there would have been a good cause of action for the loss suffered by the business. The court considered the liability of an authority executing works under authority of the Act for damages for disturbance: ‘if a private individual had done what the defendants did in the present case the claimant would have had a good cause of action … .’.
It was submitted that so long as a local authority in exercising its powers under the Act provision did not create an obstruction greater in extent or for longer than was reasonably necessary for the proper carrying out of their duties, no claim would lie. Rejecting that submission, Parker J said: ‘This contention is in my judgment untenable. Harper v Hayden was not a decision which, despite what was said in it about the decision in Lingke’s case, decides anything more than that where an owner of premises adjoining a highway is conducting building works and, for the protection of the public, erects a hoarding which obstructs the highway for no longer than reasonably necessary, he commits no wrong. This is in accord with both Herrins and Lingke. To extend this to obstructions by local and other authorities in the exercise of statutory powers would be to deprive section 278 of all content. It would enable a Water Authority to close completely a street of shops for a year or more if it was reasonably necessary thus depriving shopkeepers of their livelihood for a year, and yet say that there was no right to compensation. A construction on the section leading to such a result would be to attribute to Parliament an intention which amounts almost to confiscation without compensation. I can attribute no such intention. Moreover, such a construction would be against the ordinary meaning of the words ‘common sense’ and ‘authority’. ‘

Judges:

Parker J

Citations:

(1979) 251 EG 669, (1979) 11 BLR 16

Statutes:

Public Health Act 1936

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Lingke v Christchurch Corporation CA 1912
The householder sought compensation under the Act, for the disturbance in the laying of a drain in the highway abutting the claimant’s house and furniture shop. Because of the constraints of the work site, excavated soil had been thrown up against . .

Cited by:

Cited – Westminster City Council v Ocean Leisure Limited CA 21-Jul-2004
The claimant company owned property next to land which had been acquired to build a new bridge across the Thames. It sought compensation for disturbance to its business from the works.
Held: The state of the law was complicated and . .
Cited – Manolete Partners Plc v Hastings Borough Council TCC 12-Apr-2013
Application for compensation under s.106 of the Building Act 1984 for compensation as a result of the Council exercising its powers to prevent access to Hastings Pier under s.78 of the 1984 Act.
Held: The court rejected the defence, holding . .
Cited – Manolete Partners Plc v Hastings Borough Council CA 7-May-2014
The claimants appealed from rejection of their claim to compensation under the 1984 Act as tenants of a pier closed by the Authority. The Authority said that it had failed to comply with its leasehold obligations of repair, and was in default under . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land, Damages

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.204686

Wong v Parkside Health NHS Trust and Another: CA 16 Nov 2001

The claimant had sued her former employer for post-traumatic stress resulting from alleged harassment at her place of work. The claimant appealed against an order refusing damages. The court had held that outside the 1997 Act which was not in force at the time, there was no tort of harassment. The question was the extent of the tort of causing intentional distress. The law provided an alternative. The claimant must pursue either criminal or civil proceedings but not both. The law had recognised extensions of the term ‘molest’ as between family members.
Held: Before the Act there was a right only for an injunction, and not for damages for acts which themselves fell short of a tort. Whilst the 1861 Act remained in force, and where the public authorities refused to prosecute, a private claimant had to choose between the alternatives of a private prosecution, or an action for damages. For a claim for damages to succeed there must be physical or psychiatric damage, and an intention to create such harm. Although the tort is commonly labelled ‘intentional infliction of harm’, it was not necessary to prove actual (subjective) intention to injure; it was sufficient to prove that the conduct was ‘calculated’ to do so in the sense of being deliberate conduct which was likely in the nature of things to cause injury .
Hale LJ analysed the tort in Downton: ‘For the tort to be committed, as with any other action on the case, there has to be actual damage. The damage is physical harm or recognised psychiatric illness. The defendant must have intended to violate the claimant’s interest in his freedom from such harm. The conduct complained of has to be such that that degree of harm is sufficiently likely to result that the defendant cannot be heard to say that he did not ‘mean’ it to do so. He is taken to have meant it to do so by the combination of the likelihood of such harm being suffered as the result of his behaviour and his deliberately engaging in that behaviour.’

Judges:

Lord Justice Brooke, Lady Justice Hale and Mr Justice David Steel

Citations:

Times 07-Dec-2001, Gazette 10-Jan-2002, [2001] EWCA Civ 1721, [2003] 3 All ER 932

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Offences against the Person Act 1861 45, Protection from Harassment Act 1997

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Wilkinson v Downton 8-May-1997
Thomas Wilkinson, the landlord of a public house, went off by train, leaving his wife Lavinia behind the bar. A customer of the pub, Downton played a practical joke on her. He told her, falsely, that her husband had been involved in an accident and . .
Cited – Janvier v Sweeney 1919
During the First World War Mlle Janvier lived as a paid companion in a house in Mayfair and corresponded with her German lover who was interned as an enemy alien on the Isle of Man. Sweeney was a private detective who wanted secretly to obtain some . .
Cited – Burnett v George CA 1992
. .
Cited – Pidduck v Molloy CA 1992
The Act did not allow for a non-molestation order to be made once an unmarried couple had ceased to cohabit. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Wainwright and another v Home Office HL 16-Oct-2003
The claimant and her son sought to visit her other son in Leeds Prison. He was suspected of involvement in drugs, and therefore she was subjected to strip searches. There was no statutory support for the search. The son’s penis had been touched . .
Cited – A v Hoare; H v Suffolk County Council, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs intervening; X and Y v London Borough of Wandsworth CA 12-Apr-2006
Each claimant sought damages for a criminal assault for which the defendant was said to be responsible. Each claim was to be out of the six year limitation period. In the first claim, the proposed defendant had since won a substantial sum from the . .
Cited – Majrowski v Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust CA 16-Mar-2005
The claimant had sought damages against his employer, saying that they had failed in their duty to him under the 1997 Act in failing to prevent harassment by a manager. He appealed a strike out of his claim.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The . .
Cited – OPO v MLA and Another QBD 18-Jul-2014
A boy now sought an interim injunction to restrain his father, the defendant classical musician, from publishing his autobiography which mentioned him. The book would say that the father had suffered sexual abuse as a child at school.
Held: . .
Cited – Rhodes v OPO and Another SC 20-May-2015
The mother sought to prevent a father from publishing a book about her child’s life. It was to contain passages she said may cause psychological harm to the 12 year old son. Mother and son lived in the USA and the family court here had no . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury, Torts – Other

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167208

Hewison v Meridian Shipping Services Pte Ltd, Coflexip Stena Offshore Ltd, Flex Installer Offshore Ltd: QBD 30 Nov 2001

The applicant had been severely injured at work. He was an epileptic, and had not disclosed his condition to his employers, who because of the safety aspects of the work on oil rigs could not have employed him if he had disclosed the sickness. The employers resisted payment of damages for loss of earnings and congenial employment.
Held: The losses flowed from his inability to continue working because of his epilepsy, not his injury. He had committed criminal offences under the Theft Act in making statements to continue his employment. The safety critical context of his work was important, and public policy required a declaration that he was not entitled to any loss of earnings claim as a seaman nor to damages for loss of his congenial sea-going career.

Judges:

Mr Justice Morland

Citations:

[2001] EWHC QB 450

Links:

Bailii

Citing:

Cited – Hunter v Butler CA 28-Dec-1995
There could be no Fatal Accidents Acts damages for a loss of ‘moonlighting’ earnings dependency. . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Hewison v Meridian Shipping Pte, Coflexip Stena Offshore Ltd, Flex Installer Offshore Ltd CA 11-Dec-2002
The claimant was awarded damages for injuries suffered in his work as a seaman. The respondents claimed that he should not receive damages, since he had made false declarations as to his health in order to obtain employment, hiding his epilepsy . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.166952

Najib v John Laing Plc: QBD 19 Apr 2011

‘The claimant seeks damages for personal injury, loss and damage arising from the negligent exposure to asbestos during the course of his employment as a joiner with the defendant between 1974 and 1980. As a result, the claimant has contracted malignant mesothelioma. Judgment has been entered for the claimant, damages now fall to be assessed.’

Judges:

Nicola Davies DBE J

Citations:

[2011] EWHC 1016 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.432863

Groom v Selby: CA 18 Oct 2001

The defendant negligently failed to discover the claimant’s pregnancy. A severely disabled child was born. The question was as to the responsibility for payment of excess costs of raising a severely disabled child, a claim for economic loss. The child was damaged as a foreseeable result of contamination as it passed through the birth canal. An award of compensation limited to the special upbringing associated with rearing a child with a serious disability was fair, just and reasonable.
Held: (Brook LJ) ‘there was no difficulty in principle in accepting the proposition that the doctor should be deemed to have assumed responsibility for the foreseeable and disastrous consequences of performing her services negligently. The doctor knew that the claimant had been sterilised and wanted no more children (let alone children with serious handicaps) and the duty of care included the purpose of ensuring that if the claimant was pregnant again she should be informed of that to allow her to prevent the birth of another child if she wished. He also found an award of compensation limited to the special upbringing associated with rearing a child with serious disability would be fair, just and reasonable.’
‘The principles applicable in wrongful birth cases cannot sensibly be distinguished from the principles applicable in wrongful conception cases.’
Brooke LJ said: ‘Since [the defendant’s] breach of duty caused the claimant’s pregnancy to continue, when it would otherwise have been terminated, and since Mr Coghlan conceded that the chain of events that took place in this case was foreseeable even if it was extremely rare, then if this was a straightforward personal injuries claim the way would ordinarily be open for the claimant to recover damages for negligence.’
Hale LJ said: ‘It is fair, just and reasonable that a doctor who has undertaken the task of protecting a patient from unwanted pregnancy should bear the additional costs if that pregnancy results in a disabled child.’

Judges:

Lord Justice Brooke, Lady Justice Hale, And Mr Justice David Steel

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1522, [2002] Lloyds Rep Med 1

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Jolley v Sutton London Borough Council HL 24-May-2000
An abandoned boat had been left on its land and not removed by the council. Children tried to repair it, jacked it up, and a child was injured when it fell. It was argued for the boy, who now appealed dismissal of his claim by the Court of Appeal, . .
Cited – Hughes v Lord Advocate HL 21-Feb-1963
The defendants had left a manhole uncovered and protected only by a tent and paraffin lamp. A child climbed down the hole. When he came out he kicked over one of the lamps. It fell into the hole and caused an explosion. The child was burned. The . .
Applied – Parkinson v St James and Seacroft University Hospital NHS Trust CA 11-Apr-2001
A mother had undergone a negligent sterilisation, and in due course she gave birth to a disabled child.
Held: The right to bodily integrity is the first and most important of the interests protected by the law of tort. The cases saying that . .
Cited – MacFarlane and Another v Tayside Health Board HL 21-Oct-1999
Child born after vasectomy – Damages Limited
Despite a vasectomy, Mr MacFarlane fathered a child, and he and his wife sought damages for the cost of care and otherwise of the child. He appealed a rejection of his claim.
Held: The doctor undertakes a duty of care in regard to the . .

Cited by:

Cited – Farraj and Another v King’s Healthcare NHS Trust and Another QBD 26-May-2006
The claimants sought damages after the birth of their child with a severe hereditary disease which they said the defendant hospital had failed to diagnose after testing for that disease. The hospital sought a contribution from the company CSL who . .
Cited – Meadows v Khan QBD 23-Nov-2017
Claim for the additional costs of raising the claimant’s son, A, who suffered from both haemophilia and autism. It is admitted that, but for the defendant’s negligence, A would not have been born because his mother would have discovered during her . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166636

Jan De Nul (Uk) Limited v NV Royale Belge: CA 10 Oct 2001

The contractor undertook to dredge a stretch of river. Due to its failure to investigate properly, the result was the release of substantial volumes of silt into the estuary, to the damage of other river users and frontagers. The act amounted to a nuisance and a public nuisance. Could damages be recovered where the claimants had been unable to quantify their losses? However difficult that question, it was reasonable for the contractor to have taken steps to mitigate the potential loss.
Held: The deposit of silt was a form of physical interference with the third parties’ land. The claimant was liable in nuisance because HWT had a right to be left to use its nature reserve for breeding purposes without having to worry whether the silt, which the claimant by its negligence had put there, would interfere with their breeding programme; that worry could only be avoided either by carrying out a study, as was in fact done, and finding out that there was no need to do anything, or by dredging out the silt; the property was physically significantly affected in as much as large amounts of salt were deposited on it; and HWT suffered further damage by reason of the claimant’s activities in as much as HWT paid for the investigation.
Schiemann LJ said: ‘The underlying policy of the law is to protect a claimant against what Markesinis and Deakin in their book on Tort Law (4th ed, 1999) describe at p.422 as ‘unreasonable interference with the claimant’s interest.’ Phrases such as ‘physical damage to land’ are portmanteau phrases which embrace the concept of land being affected and this resulting in damage to the economic interests of another’.

Judges:

Schiemann LJ, Hale LJ, Rix LJ

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Civ 209, [2002] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 583, [2002] Lloyd’s Rep IR 589, [2002] 1 All ER (Comm) 767

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Tate and Lyle Industries Ltd v Greater London Council HL 24-Mar-1983
The plaintiff had constructed and used two jetties, and dredged a channel down to the Thames for their use. The Council constructed two terminals nearby, the result of which was to cause a build up of silt blocking the channel.
Held: The . .
Cited – Hunter and Others v Canary Wharf Ltd HL 25-Apr-1997
The claimant, in a representative action complained that the works involved in the erection of the Canary Wharf tower constituted a nuisance in that the works created substantial clouds of dust and the building blocked her TV signals, so as to limit . .
Cited – Cambridge Water Company v Eastern Counties Leather Plc HL 9-Dec-1993
The plaintiffs sought damages and an injunction after the defendant company allowed chlorinated chemicals into the plaintiff’s borehole which made unfit the water the plaintiff itself supplied.
Held: The appeal was allowed. Liability under . .
Cited – Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Miller Steamship Co Pty (The Wagon Mound) (No 2) PC 25-May-1966
(New South Wales) When considering the need to take steps to avoid injury, the court looked to the nature of defendant’s activity. There was no social value or cost saving in this defendant’s activity. ‘In the present case there was no justification . .
Cited – Regina v Shamrock CACD 1994
. .
Cited – Attorney-General v PYA Quarries Ltd CA 1957
In a relator action, an injunction was sought to prevent the respondent from emitting quantities of dust from their quarry. The court had to decide what were the constituents of the offence of a public nuisance, and how this differed from a private . .
Cited – Benjamin v Storr 1874
The plaintiff’s coffee house was badly affected by the defendant’s wagons standing for long periods in the narrow street outside for the purposes of loading and unloading goods. The wagons blocked his light and the frequent stabling of the horses . .
Appeal from – Jan De Nul (UK) Ltd v NV Royale Belge ComC 31-Jul-2000
Contractors’ liability insurance – contract for capital dredging of main shipping channel in Southampton Water – deposit of silt outside limits of dredged channel – whether insured negligent – whether silt interfered with navigation – whether . .

Cited by:

Cited – D Pride and Partners (A Firm) and Others v Institute for Animal Health and Others QBD 31-Mar-2009
The claimants sought damages after the loss of business when the defendants’ premises were the source of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The organism had escaped from their premises via a broken drain.
Held: Much of the damage claimed . .
Cited – Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Williams and Another CA 3-Jul-2018
Japanese Knotweed escape is nuisance
The defendant appealed against an order as to its liability in private nuisance for the escape of Japanese Knotweed from its land onto the land of the claimant neighbours. No physical damage to properties had yet been shown, but the reduction in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Nuisance, Negligence, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166543

McMullen v Gibney and Gibney: NIHC 13 Jan 1999

Citations:

[1999] NIEHC 1

Links:

Bailii

Citing:

Cited – Parry v Cleaver HL 5-Feb-1969
PI Damages not Reduced for Own Pension
The plaintiff policeman was disabled by the negligence of the defendant and received a disablement pension. Part had been contributed by himself and part by his employer.
Held: The plaintiff’s appeal succeeded. Damages for personal injury were . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Northern Ireland, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166323

Sarwar v Alam: CA 19 Sep 2001

Litigation had followed an accident. The claimant, a passenger, sought and won damages for personal injuries. He had taken out legal expenses insurance, and at dispute was the recovery of the cost of that insurance. He had been unaware of having the insurance and had also paid out for after the event insurance. He sought to recover the costs of the legal expenses insurance. A challenge of a judge’s award in costs only proceedings should only rarely succeed. In such questions, the danger of conflicts of interest between the various insurance companies is real, and had been provided for in the regulations. Solicitors should inspect the client’s various policies to clarify what legal expenses insurance was available. The need to provide free choice of solicitors did not override common provisions for small cases referring such matters to insurance panel solicitors. In a case where a passenger sued his driver, it was not appropriate for his choice of solicitor to be determined by the defendant’s insurers, and after the event legal expenses insurance was a proper and reasonable expense and should be recoverable.

Judges:

Judge Halbert, District Judge Wallace

Citations:

Times 11-Oct-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 1401, [2002] RTR 12, [2001] 4 All ER 541, [2002] 1 WLR 125, [2002] 1 Costs LR 37, [2002] Lloyd’ Rep IR 126, [2002] PIQR P15

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Insurance Companies (Legal Expenses Insurance) Regulations 1990, Conditional Fee Agreements Regulations 2000, Civil Procedure Rules 44.12A

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Callery v Gray (No 2) CA 31-Jul-2001
A plaintiff could recover the costs of insuring himself against the risk of having to pay the other sides costs, and finding his own costs irrecoverable (after the event or ATE insurance). The earlier case had decided that such premiums may be . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Damages, Costs, Legal Professions, Insurance

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166184

WWF -World Wide Fund for Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund), World Wildlife Fund Inc v World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc: ChD 1 Oct 2001

The Fund sought summary relief against the use of the sign ‘WWF’ by the defendants, in breach of a contract. The defendants urged that the contract operated in restraint of trade. There had been long running and widespread trade mark disputes, resolved eventually by an agreement where the defendants undertook not to use the initials. That agreement came to be ignored by the defendants, and eventually the plaintiffs began this action. They argued that any contract in restraint of trade was void unless shown to be reasonable, and that in this case there was no prospect of confusion. The agreement was void. Arguments as to restraint of trade in intellectual property disputes must show some real and unreasonable fetter on trade. In this case though the Fund showed a reasonable need for such restraint. The court thought it would be odd if breach of an ordinary restraint of trade covenant (not to work in a defined area at a defined job for a defined time) did not attract an account, whereas breach of a lesser restraint (not to use a trademark in a trade otherwise permitted) did, and refused an account.

Judges:

The Hon Mr Justice Jacob

Citations:

Times 13-Nov-2001, [2002] FSR 32, [2001] EWHC Ch 482

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Harper’s Garage (Stourport) Ltd HL 1968
Agreement in Restraint of Trade Unenforceable
The defendant ran two garages under solus agreements with the plaintiffs who complained when the defendants began to purchase petrol from cheaper alternative sources. The House was asked whether the solus agreements were be regarded in law as an . .

Cited by:

Doubted – Experience Hendrix LLC v PPX Enterprises Inc and Another CA 20-Mar-2003
The claimant had obtained an interim injunction against the defendant for copyright infringement, though it could show no losses. It now sought additionally damages. The defendant argued that it could not have both.
Held: The case arose form . .
Appeal from – WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund); World Wildlife Fund Inc v World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc CA 27-Feb-2002
The claimant sought enforcement of a contract restricting the use by the appellant defendant of the initials ‘WWF’ in their trading. The agreement had been reached in settlement of an action for breach of the claimant’s trade mark rights. The . .
First Instance – Liability – WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) and Another v World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc CA 2-Apr-2007
The parties had disputed use of the initals WWF, with a compromise reached in 1994 allowing primary use by the Fund with restricted use by the Federation. The Federation now appealed an award of damages made after a finding of a breach of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property, Contract, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166235

Nationwide Building Society v Various Solicitors (No 3): ChD 1 Mar 1999

Equitable compensation for breach of fiduciary duty was the actual loss suffered. Would he have acted differently but for the act? Where bad faith or worse shown any contribution of fault by the claimant would be disregarded.

Citations:

Gazette 03-Mar-1999, Times 01-Mar-1999, [1999] EWHC 844 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.84234

TP And KM v The United Kingdom: ECHR 10 May 2001

The Grand Chamber found a violation of Articles 8 and 13 and awarded each applicant GBP 10,000 in respect of a separation which lasted a year. Article 8 imposes positive obligations of disclosure on a local authority involved in care proceedings: ‘The positive obligation on the Contracting State to protect the interests of the family requires that this material be made available to the parent concerned, even in the absence of any request by the parent. If there were doubts as to whether this posed a risk to the welfare of the child, the matter should have been submitted to the court by the local authority at the earliest stage in the proceedings possible for it to resolve the issues involved.’

Citations:

28945/95, (2001) 34 EHRR 42, [2001] ECHR 332, [2001] 2 FLR 549, (2001) 3 LGLR 52, [2001] 2 FCR 289, (2001) 4 CCL Rep 398, [2001] Fam Law 590

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 8 13

Cited by:

Cited – JD v East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust and others HL 21-Apr-2005
Parents of children had falsely and negligently been accused of abusing their children. The children sought damages for negligence against the doctors or social workers who had made the statements supporting the actions taken. The House was asked if . .
Cited – MAK and RK v The United Kingdom ECHR 23-Mar-2010
mak_ukECHR10
When RK, a nine year old girl was taken to hospital, with bruises, the paediatrician wrongly suspecting sexual abuse, took blood samples and intimate photographs in the absence of the parents and without their consent.
Held: The doctor had . .
Cited – Durham County Council v Dunn CA 13-Dec-2012
The claimant wished to begin a claim alleging historic sexual abuse while he had been at an institution run by the defendants. The claimant sought pre-trial disclosure of various documents and the court now considered the principle applicable, and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Damages, Children, Litigation Practice

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166102

Cesky v The Czech Republic: ECHR 6 Jun 2000

Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 5-3; Pecuniary damage – financial award; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient; Costs and expenses award – domestic proceedings; Costs and expenses award – Convention proceedings
The applicant claimed the equivalent of andpound;5660 for four years’ lost earnings, on the basis of average earnings in the Czech Republic between 1993 and 1997.

Citations:

[2000] ECHR 213, 33644/96, [2000] ECHR 214

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Cited by:

Cited – Faulkner, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and Another SC 1-May-2013
The applicants had each been given a life sentence, but having served the minimum term had been due to have the continued detention reviewed to establish whether or not continued detention was necessary for the protection of the pblic. It had not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165884

Nikolova v Bulgaria: ECHR 25 Mar 1999

(Grand Chamber) The claimant had been detained for long periods after coming under suspicion of theft of large sums. Her detention had initially been ordered by prosecutors. Her initial appeals against her detention were also decided by prosecutors. After three weeks she appealed to a court, which refused her appeal about four weeks later. It confined its consideration to the question whether she had been charged with a serious crime and whether her medical condition required that she be released. It did not consider the applicant’s arguments that she was unlikely to abscond or to interfere with the investigation. The case was examined in camera and without the participation of the parties, and the court considered written comments from the prosecutor to which the applicant had no opportunity to respond.
Held: The claimant’s human rights had been violated. The bail hearings, having been held in a closed court did not satisfy the claimant’s article 5(4) rights, and furthermore, the onus was on the claimant to establish that she was to be given bail: ‘Everyone arrested or detained in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1(c) of this article shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorised by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial.’ The proceedings before the domestic court were not truly adversarial and did not ensure equality of arms, and the court had failed to consider the applicant’s contentions.
Nevertheless in the particular circumstances, a declaration was sufficient satisfaction.
Dissenting as to the assessment of damages, Judge Bonello said: I do not share the Court’s view. I consider it wholly inadequate and unacceptable that a Court of Justice should ‘satisfy’ the victim of a breach of fundamental rights with a mere handout of legal idiom. The first time the Court appears to have resorted to this hapless formula was in the Golder case of 1975 . . Disregarding its own practice that full reasoning should be given for all decisions, the Court failed to suggest one single reason why the findings should also double up as the remedy. Since then, propelled by the irresistible force of inertia, that formula has resurfaced regularly. In view of the many judgments which relied on it did the Court seem eager to upset the rule that it has to give neither reasons nor explanations’.

Judges:

L Wildhaber P

Citations:

[1999] ECHR 16, 31195/96, (2001) 31 EHRR 64

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 5(4)

Cited by:

Cited – Greenfield, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 16-Feb-2005
The appellant had been charged with and disciplined for a prison offence. He was refused legal assistance at his hearing, and it was accepted that the proceedings involved the determination of a criminal charge within the meaning of article 6 of the . .
Cited – Degainis, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice Admn 3-Feb-2010
The claimant sought damages. He had been released from prison and recalled, but the review of his continued detention was not undertaken as it should have been. The defendant said that the acknowledgement and apology were sufficient just . .
Cited – Sturnham v Secretary of State for Justice CA 23-Feb-2012
The claimant life sentence prisoner had inter alia been detained after the expiry of his tarriff pending a review of whether his continued detention was required for public protection. That review had been delayed, and the claimant was awarded . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165709

Koendjbiharie v The Netherlands: ECHR 25 Oct 1990

Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 5-4; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient; Costs and expenses award – Convention proceedings
Unsuccessful proceedings brought by the applicant to challenge his detention in a state psychiatric clinic had taken four months to be completed, the period allowed under domestic law being three months.
Held: It is for the public authority responsible for making the determination to justify the delay: ‘On the face of it, a lapse of time of more than four months appears incompatible with the notion of speediness. This impression is strengthened by the fact that, when amending national law, the Dutch legislature set at three months the period exceptionally available to a court which, like the Court of Appeal in this case, is considering the possibility, after a first hearing, of refusing the extension, but deems it necessary to obtain additional information.
A more detailed study of the facts of the case does not dispel this impression: quite the contrary. The Court of Appeal was evidently not slow to initiate the examination of the application – lodged on 17 May, the court considered it on 4 June – but it is legitimate to question its decision to adjourn the proceedings until 17 August. The Government supplied no information capable of justifying it. Nor did it provide any explanation why the Court of Appeal took more than one month after the hearing to draft a brief order.
The Court, accordingly, finds a failure to comply with the requirement of ‘speediness’ laid down in paragraph 4 of Article 5 of the Convention.’

Judges:

Ryssdal, President

Citations:

11487/85, [1990] ECHR 28, (1991) 13 EHRR 820

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 5(4)

Cited by:

Cited – Faulkner, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and Another SC 1-May-2013
The applicants had each been given a life sentence, but having served the minimum term had been due to have the continued detention reviewed to establish whether or not continued detention was necessary for the protection of the pblic. It had not . .
Cited – Osborn v The Parole Board SC 9-Oct-2013
Three prisoners raised questions as to the circumstances in which the Parole Board is required to hold an oral hearing before making an adverse decision. One of the appeals (Osborn) concerned a determinate sentence prisoner who was released on . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165088

E v Norway: ECHR 29 Aug 1990

The applicant suffered serious brain damage and was an untreatable psychopath. He was convicted of numerous violent offences and sentenced to a period of imprisonment. He was also sentenced to preventive detention under the Norwegian Penal Code, as result of which he was detained in mental hospitals. The effect of this sentence was to enable the Ministry of Justice to monitor his progress and to release or detain him when this would prove appropriate. It gave the ministry a wide discretion in deciding which of various possible security measures was to be imposed and for how long. The court observed that this system shared a number of features with the Belgian system in regard to recidivists and habitual offenders which was at issue in the Van Droogenbroeck case: ‘Under such systems the courts cannot at the time of their decisions do more than assess how the person concerned will develop in the future. The authorities, on the other hand, through and with the assistance of their officers, can monitor that development more closely and at frequent intervals.’ There remained a risk that time the link between the ministry’s decision not to release or to re-detain and the initial judgment might be broken with the result that it would be transformed into a deprivation of liberty that was arbitrary.

Citations:

11701/85, (1994) 17 EHRR 30, [1990] ECHR 17

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Cited by:

Cited – Giles, Regina (on the Application of) v Parole Board and Another HL 31-Jul-2003
The defendant had been sentenced for offences of violence, but an additional period was imposed to protect the public. He had been refused leave for reconsideration of that part of his sentence after he completed the normal segment of his sentence. . .
Cited – Regina v Parole Board ex parte Smith, Regina v Parole Board ex parte West (Conjoined Appeals) HL 27-Jan-2005
Each defendant challenged the way he had been treated on revocation of his parole licence, saying he should have been given the opportunity to make oral representations.
Held: The prisoners’ appeals were allowed.
Lord Bingham stated: . .
Cited – Whiston, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice CA 25-Oct-2012
The claimant was a prisoner released on a home detention licence, but his licence had been revoked. He now said that the way it had been revoked, without the respondent’s decision being subject to confirmation by the Parole Board, nor to other . .
Cited – Faulkner, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and Another SC 1-May-2013
The applicants had each been given a life sentence, but having served the minimum term had been due to have the continued detention reviewed to establish whether or not continued detention was necessary for the protection of the pblic. It had not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Prisons, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165080

Bezicheri v Italy: ECHR 25 Oct 1989

Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 5-4; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient; Costs and expenses – claim rejected

Citations:

11400/85, (1990) 12 EHRR 210, [1989] ECHR 19

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Cited by:

Cited – Faulkner, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and Another SC 1-May-2013
The applicants had each been given a life sentence, but having served the minimum term had been due to have the continued detention reviewed to establish whether or not continued detention was necessary for the protection of the pblic. It had not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Prisons, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165044

Van Droogenbroeck v Belgium: ECHR 25 Apr 1983

Hudoc Judgment (Just satisfaction) Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Costs and expenses – claim rejected
For an imprisonment to be lawful, the ‘detention’ must result from, ‘follow and depend upon’ or occur ‘by virtue of’ the ‘conviction.

Judges:

G Wiarda P

Citations:

7906/77, (1991) 13 EHRR 546, [1983] ECHR 7

Links:

Worldlii, Worldlii, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 5

Citing:

Reserved from – Van Droogenbroeck v Belgium ECHR 24-Jun-1982
The applicant was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for theft. He had a previous convictions and was thought to have a persistent tendency to crime, and was placed at the government’s disposal for 10 years on that ground. This was subject to . .

Cited by:

Cited – Secretary of State for Justice v Walker; Same v James CA 1-Feb-2008
The claimant had been sentenced to a short period of imprisonment but with an indeterminate term until he demonstrated that it was no longer necessary for the protection of the public. He complained that the term having expired, no opportunity had . .
Cited – Faulkner, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and Another SC 1-May-2013
The applicants had each been given a life sentence, but having served the minimum term had been due to have the continued detention reviewed to establish whether or not continued detention was necessary for the protection of the pblic. It had not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.164914

Candolin Ea (Approximation Of Laws): ECJ 30 Jun 2005

Compulsory motor vehicle insurance – Directives 84/5/EEC and 90/232/EEC – Rules on civil liability – Passenger’s contribution to the loss or injury – Refusal or limitation of the right to compensation.
The drunken owner of a car allowed an uninsured but also drunken friend to drive it. The insurer sought to escape payment for his injuries.
Held: ‘The owner of the car who was travelling in the car as a passenger cannot therefore be treated more severely than the other passengers on the ground that he permitted his car to be driven by someone who was acting under the influence of alcohol.’

Citations:

C-537/03, [2005] EUECJ C-537/03

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

European

Cited by:

Cited – Churchill Insurance Company Ltd v Wilkinson and Others CA 19-May-2010
The various insured defendants had been driven in the insured vehicles by a non-insured driver. Suffering injury at the negligence of the driver, they recovered variously damages. Their insurance companies sought recovery of the sums paid from their . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages, Road Traffic

Updated: 03 June 2022; Ref: scu.228055

Knauer v Ministry of Justice: QBD 24 Jul 2014

The deceased died of mesothelioma after working for the defendant as an administrative assistant in buildings constructed using asbestos.

Judges:

Bean J

Citations:

[2014] EWHC 2553 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Knauer v Ministry of Justice SC 24-Feb-2016
The court was asked: ‘whether the current approach to assessing the financial losses suffered by the dependant of a person who is wrongfully killed properly reflects the fundamental principle of full compensation, and if it does not whether we . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 02 June 2022; Ref: scu.535391

Patel and Another v Daybells (a Firm): CA 27 Jul 2001

Land was purchased and a resale negotiated before it was registered. An undertaking was accepted that the seller’s solicitor would discharge all charges. The purchasers sought to avoid completion by saying the Act required them to be registered before completion. The matter was completed but the seller’s bank refused to sign the release. The bank gave one figure to release the charge, but then demanded more. The buyers’ solicitors were alleged to have been negligent, having completed on the basis of the vendor solicitor’s undertaking to discharge the mortgage. This was standard practice in conveyancing transactions.
Held: In accepting the vendor’s solicitors undertaking, the client was exposed to some degree of risk. Nevertheless, it was enough to show that the routine and approved practice of English solicitors is one on which ‘the experts have directed their minds to the question of comparative risks and benefits and have reached a defensible conclusion on the matter’ The solicitors were not negligent.

Judges:

Mr Justice Carnwath, Lord Justice Robert Walker, Lord Justice Longmore

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1229, [2002] PNLR 6

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Land Registration Act 1925 110(5), Law Society’s Code for Completion by Post 1984

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Edward Wong Finance Co Ltd v Johnson Stokes and Master PC 1984
(Hong Kong) The defendant’s solicitors completed a mortgage in ‘Hong Kong style’ rather than in the old fashioned English style. Completion in Hong Kong style provides for money to be paid over against an undertaking by the solicitors for the . .
Cited – Bolitho v City and Hackney Health Authority HL 24-Jul-1997
The plaintiff suffered catastrophic brain damage as a result of cardiac arrest induced by respiratory failure as a child whilst at the defendant hospital. A doctor was summoned but failed to attend, and the child suffered cardiac arrest and brain . .
Cited – National Home Loans Corporation v Kaufmann 21-Jun-1995
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Lloyds TSB Bank Plc v Markandan and Uddin (A Firm) ChD 14-Oct-2010
The claimant sought damages saying that the defendant firm of solicitors had failed to deal properly with a conveyance having paid across the mortgage funds to a non-existent firm of solicitors and without obtaining the appropriate documents at all. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Legal Professions, Damages

Updated: 01 June 2022; Ref: scu.159904

W v W; J v Raewyn Bell: PC 19 Jan 1999

PC (New Zealand) The claimants sught to recover exemplary damages from defendants convicted of criminal offences against them.
Held: There were differences in the system between New Zealand and the English jurisdictions. The New Zealand Courts made a greater allowance for the effect of the offence on the victim. No issues of public policy clearly indicated either way. Could it be right for the Board to take a view of public policy in New Zealand different from that taken by the New Zealand Court of Appeal: ‘a need for consistency leads inexorably to the conclusion that an acquittal should also bar the civil remedy for exemplary damages. The decision to bar the remedy after conviction and punishment is plainly a matter of policy and the consistent application of such a policy requires that it should apply irrespective of the severity or lightness of the punishment imposed by the criminal court. ‘ The appeal was dismissed.

Judges:

Lord Browne-Wilkinson, Lord Steyn, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough, Lord Millett

Citations:

[1999] UKPC 2

Links:

Bailii, PC, PC

Citing:

Cited – Australian Consolidated Press Ltd v Uren 2-Jun-1966
(High Court of Australia) . .
Cited – Rookes v Barnard (No 1) HL 21-Jan-1964
The court set down the conditions for the award of exemplary damages. There are two categories. The first is where there has been oppressive or arbitrary conduct by a defendant. Cases in the second category are those in which the defendant’s conduct . .
Cited – Donselaar v Donselaar 1982
(Court of Appeal – New Zealand) The plaintiff sued for exemplary damages for assault and battery alleged to have caused physical injury, indignity, mental suffering, disgrace and humiliation. The defendant had been charged with assault in a . .
Cited – Invercargill City Council v Hamlin PC 12-Feb-1996
(New Zealand) Seventeen years earlier the plaintiff had asked a builder to construct a house for him, but it now appeared that the foundations had been inadequate. The building company no longer being in existence, he sought damages from the local . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Commonwealth, Damages

Updated: 01 June 2022; Ref: scu.159334

Spittle v Bunney: CA 1988

The plaintiff made a claim in damages for the loss of her mother’s services.
Held: In assessing a FAA claim on behalf of a child a judge, directing himself as he would a jury, was, in valuing the mothers services to take into account the change in nature of a mother’s services as the child grew older and that while the yardstick of a nanny’s wage could be used in respect of the early years of a child’s life it became less appropriate as the child got older: ‘The judge adopted the ‘nanny’ formula. Figures were provided of the wage which a commercially hired nanny could have expected to receive ‘net in-hand’ each week. By ‘net in-hand’ was meant the sum actually receivable by the nanny after she had paid her tax and NI contributions. — The judge did not accede to a submission made on behalf of the plaintiffs that the ‘net in-hand’ figure was too low and the cost of the nanny should in effect be doubled by charging her gross wages and NI contribution and something for her food. In this he must have been right, because there never was going to be a nanny and such items of expenditure will never have been incurred by anybody at all.’

Judges:

Croom-Johnston LJ

Citations:

[1988] 1 WLR 847, [1988] 3 All ER 1031, [1988] EWCA Civ 16, [1988] 1 WLR 847

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Fatal Accidents Act 1846 2, Law Reform (Miscellaneous Previsions) Act 1934

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Jefford v Gee CA 4-Mar-1970
The courts of Scotland followed the civil law in the award of interest on damages. The court gave examples of the way in which they apply the ex mora rule when calculating the interest payable in a judgment. If money was wrongfully withheld, then . .
Cited – Birkitt v Hayes 1982
Where a case takes a long time to come on for trial because there has been unjustifiable delay by the plaintiff, he has been kept out of his money by his own default for part of the period. It is a ‘special reason’ for not giving some of the . .

Cited by:

Cited – Bordin v St Mary’s NHS Trust QBD 2000
The claimant’s mother had died as a result of the negligence of the respondent.
Held: The calculation of past and future dependancy should refer to the care whether paid or unpaid actually provide or expected to be provided by the deceased. . .
Cited – Eagle (By Her Litigation Friend) v Chambers CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimant had been severely injured, and a substantial damages award made. Cross appeals were heard as to the several elements awarded. The claimant sought as part of her award of damages for personal injuries the fees she would have to pay to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 01 June 2022; Ref: scu.200639

Wisely v John Fulton Plumbers Ltd (Scotland) and Wadey v Surrey County Council: HL 6 Apr 2000

A plaintiff in a personal injury action, was entitled to claim, and be paid, interest on his award for compensation for lost earnings, even though some part of it was to be paid direct to the Department of Social Security by way of recovery of benefits. The scheme for recovery of benefits paid deliberately stayed clear of complications which would arise if attempts were to be made to recalculate awards if interest on this element was not to be included. Section 17 meant that interest had to be calculated by reference to a figure which ignored the fact that benefits had been received and ignored the fact that the defendant was paying the benefits to the Secretary of State.

Judges:

Lord Slynn of Hadley, Lord Woolf MR, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Clyde, Lord Millett

Citations:

Times 07-Apr-2000, Gazette 31-May-2000, [2000] UKHL 24, [2000] 1 WLR 820

Links:

House of Lords, House of Lords, House of Lords, Bailii

Statutes:

Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Act 1997 17

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Wisely v John Fulton (Plumbers) Ltd IHCS 2-Dec-1998
Benefits which might be payable or recoverable in respect of damages should not be disregarded when the court considers what elements are to be allowed interest when calculating personal injury damages. . .

Cited by:

Appealed to – Wisely v John Fulton (Plumbers) Ltd IHCS 2-Dec-1998
Benefits which might be payable or recoverable in respect of damages should not be disregarded when the court considers what elements are to be allowed interest when calculating personal injury damages. . .
Cited – Eagle (By Her Litigation Friend) v Chambers CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimant had been severely injured, and a substantial damages award made. Cross appeals were heard as to the several elements awarded. The claimant sought as part of her award of damages for personal injuries the fees she would have to pay to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages, Benefits, Scotland

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.159058