Category: Damages

Beard and Natwest Bank v Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council: LT 31 Dec 2001

LT COMPENSATION – compulsory acquisition of long leasehold house in poor condition – mortgage – value of unencumbered long leasehold interest determined at andpound;7,600 – no deduction of charges when determining market value – lack of evidence regarding mortgage – no determination of amounts payable to claimants
An order had been made for the compulsory purchase of a dwelling to make it fit for habitation. It was held on a long lease at a low rent, and was subject to a charge. The property was valued at andpound;7,000 by the council ‘s expert, but he had deducted the seller’s costs which would not normally be borne by a purchaser.
Held: Neither the local authority’s costs nor the value of any of the local authority’s land charges registered against the property should reduce the valuation. Those were matters between the council and the respondent, and not for the valuation.

Judges:

P H Clarke FRICS

Citations:

ACQ/72/2001

Links:

LT

Statutes:

Housing Act 1985, Compulsory Purchase (Vesting Declarations) Act 1981

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Land, Damages, Local Government

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.170277

Eastgate Group Ltd v Lindsey Morden Group Inc, and Smith and Williamson (a Firm): CA 10 Oct 2001

The defendant faced a claim for breach of warranties given by vendors in a company share sale agreement. The sought a contribution from the purchasers accountants who had prepared figures upon which the purchase decision was based. The defendants’ liability was strictly in contract, but the contribution they sought arose in negligence. The Act formulated the liability widely. However the damage arising from one claim, was not the same as the other, and no mutual discharge would apply. The request had been refused, and the defendant appealed.
Held: The judge had erred in holding that there would be no mutual discharge, and therefore the claim was capable of being subject to a claim for contribution. The fact that different sums might be payable did not mean that the claims were different. It was not correct to try to judge the issue of whether it would be just and equitable to make an order at an interlocutory stage.

Judges:

Potter LJ and Longmore LJ

Citations:

Gazette 08-Nov-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 1446, [2002] 1 WLR 642

Statutes:

Civil Liability (Contributions) Act 1978

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – The Carnival 1994
. .
Cited – 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 – Howkins and Harrison (A Firm) v Tyler and Another CA 3-Aug-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 also sought to recover the payment from the defendant under the Act. The application to stay the . .

Cited by:

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.

Company, Professional Negligence, Damages

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.166542

Standard Chartered Bank v Pakistan National Shipping Corporation and Others (No 3): ComC 27 May 1998

A company making a false statement on a bill of lading would be held liable for the tort of deceit when it knew that the bill must be relied upon by bankers and others making arrangements on its contents. A claimant ‘cannot recover for a loss avoidable by reasonable action on his own part because, if he could reasonably have avoided it, it will not be regarded as caused by the wrongdoer’.
ComC Presentation of documents under confirmed letter of credit – WCP 1983 Revision – Ante-dated and false bills of lading – Deceit – Causation – Mitigation.

Judges:

Toulson J

Citations:

Times 27-May-1998, [1999] 1 Lloyds Rep 747

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Standard Chartered Bank v Pakistan National Shipping Corporation 1998
‘The tort of deceit involves a false representation made by the defendant, who knows it to be untrue, or who has no belief in its truth, or who is reckless as to its truth. If the defendant intended that the plaintiff should act in reliance on such . .

Cited by:

Cited – Sweetman v Nathan and others CA 25-Jul-2003
The claimant had been engaged with his solicitor in a fraudulent land transaction. He now sought to sue the solicitor for negligence. The solicitor replied that the claimant was unable to rely upon his own unlawful act to make a claim.
Held: . .
Cited – Veitch and Another v Avery CA 12-Jul-2007
The claimants appealed the award of only nominal damages after they succeeded in their claim against their solicitors for negligence in their conduct of the defence of a mortgage possession action.
Held: The appeal failed. The judge was . .
See Also – Standard Chartered Bank v Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, Standard Chartered Bank v Pakistan National Shipping Corporation and Others and Another and Others (Nos 2 and 4) HL 6-Nov-2002
Fraudulent Misrepresentation by Company Director
Fraudulent bills of lading had been issued in order to rely upon letters of credit issued by the bank. The director signing the bills sought to avoid personal liability, saying it was the Act of the company. The defendant company also appealed on . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Company, Damages

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.89486

Regina v Secretary of State for Transport Ex Parte Owen: QBD 13 Nov 1995

The damages awarded for a compulsory purchase were reduced. The vendor had foreseen the reduction in the value of the land. A significant depreciation of value comes within the expression ‘seriously affected’ in section 246(2A).

Citations:

Times 13-Nov-1995, [1995] 2 EGLR 213

Statutes:

Highways Act 1980 246(2A)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Land, Damages

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.87959

Lawrence v Chief Constable of Staffordshire: CA 25 Jul 2000

Current changes in interest rates did not justify a departure from the guidelines set down of two per cent on damages for general pain and suffering and loss of amenity. There is no essential or necessary reason why the rate for such a claim should be the same as was to be used when calculating future losses. The two awards of interest are fundamentally. One is an actuarial assessment of future losses, and the other is a discretionary award.

Citations:

Times 25-Jul-2000

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Damages, Personal Injury

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.82970

Littrell v Government of the United States of America and Another (No 2): CA 24 Nov 1993

The plaintiff claimed damages for personal injuries arising from medical treatment which he had received at a United States military hospital in the United Kingdom while a serving member of the United States Air Force.
Held: Section 16(2) applied and therefore the case fell to be decided at common law. The acts complained of took place at a military hospital within the control of the United States Air Force. They involved only United States personnel. The operation of a military hospital, although requiring much the same skills as the operation of a civilian hospital, is a recognised military operation. The standard of medical care which the United States should afford its own servicemen was a matter within its own sovereign authority. The maintenance of the base itself was plainly a sovereign activity.
Hoffmann LJ said: ‘The context in which the act took place was the maintenance by the United States of a unit of the United States Air Force in the United Kingdom. This looks about as imperial an activity as could be imagined. But it would be facile to regard this context as determinative of the question. Acts done within that context range from arrangements concerning the flights of the bombers – plainly jure imperii – to ordering milk for the base from a local dairy or careless driving by off-duty airmen on the roads of Suffolk. Both of the latter would seem to me to be jure gestionis, fairly within an area of private law activity. I do not think that there is a single test or ‘bright line’ by which cases on either side can be distinguished. Rather, there are a number of factors which may characterise the act as nearer to or further from the central military activity . . Some acts are wholly military in character, some almost entirely private or commercial and some in between.’

Judges:

Hoffmann LJ

Citations:

Times 24-Nov-1993, Independent 02-Dec-1993, Gazette 26-Jan-1994, [1995] 1 WLR 82, [1994] 4 All ER 203

Statutes:

1951 NATO Agreement, State Immunity Act 1978 16(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Holland v Lampen-Wolfe HL 20-Jul-2000
The US established a base at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire, and provided educational services through its staff to staff families. The claimant a teacher employed at the base alleged that a report on her was defamatory. The defendant relied on state . .
Cited – Smith, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence and Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner (Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening) SC 30-Jun-2010
The deceased soldier died of heat exhaustion whilst on active service in Iraq. It was said that he was owed a duty under human rights laws, and that any coroner’s inquest should be a fuller one to satisfy the state’s duty under Article 2.
Cited – The United States of America v Nolan SC 21-Oct-2015
Mrs Nolan had been employed at a US airbase. When it closed, and she was made redundant, she complained that the appellant had not consulted properly on the redundancies. The US denied that it had responsibility to consult, and now appealed.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Litigation Practice, International

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.83095

Bouette v Rose: CA 1 Feb 2000

A mother who had given up work to stay at home and care for her daughter who had been awarded substantial damages for injury, was capable of being dependent upon her daughter when that daughter died. She was accordingly a person who could make a claim against the daughters estate under the Act. The daughter’s resources had contributed substantially to the mothers living expenses, that had not been for valuable consideration, and she had, even if through the Court of Protection, assumed some responsibility for her mother’s upkeep.

Citations:

Times 01-Feb-2000, Gazette 10-Feb-2000

Statutes:

Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Wills and Probate, Damages

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.78505

Birmingham Corporation v West Midlands Baptist (Trust) Association Inc: HL 1969

There had been a substantial delay of many years after the order for compulsory purchase was made, with a substantial increase in value after the service of the notice to treat.
Held: The physical condition of the reference land and its surroundings is to taken as at the valuation date.
Lord Morris of Borth-Y-Gest said: ‘The word ‘compensation’ would be a mockery if what was paid was something that did not compensate.’ and
‘Apart from severance and injurious affection there is only one subject for compensation – the value of the Land (see Inland Revenue Comrs v. Glasgow and South Western Ry. Co (1887) 12 App. Cas. 315). But it was convenient and it became customary to value separately the market value of the land and the other elements comprised in its value to the owner and then to add these together to obtain the total value to the owner. And it further became customary to add 10 per cent. in respect of the expropriation being compulsory. Rule (1) abolished this addition of 10 per cent.’
Lord Reid said: ‘These provisions do show that Parliament (or the draftsman) must have thought that the law was that compensation was assessable on the basis of value as at the date of notice to treat. But the mere fact that an enactment shows that Parliament must have thought that the law was one thing does not preclude the courts from deciding that the law was in fact something different. This has been stated in a number of cases including Inland Revenue Commissioners v Dowdall, O’Mahoney and Co Ltd [1952] AC 401. No doubt the position would be different if the provisions of the enactment were such that they would only be workable if the law was as Parliament supposed it to be. But, in my view, all that can be said here is that these enactments would have a narrower scope if the law was found to be that compensation must be assessed at a date later than that of the notice to treat.’ and
‘No stage can be singled out as the date of expropriation in every case. Sometimes possession is taken before compensation is assessed. Then it would seem logical to fix the market value of the land as at that date and to take actual consequential losses as they occurred then or thereafter, provided that the dispossessed owner had acted reasonably. But if compensation is assessed before possession is taken, taking the date of possession can I think be justified because then either party can sue for specific performance and the promoters obtain a right to the land, as if there had been a contract of sale at that date.’

Judges:

Lord Reid, Lord Morris of Borth-Y-Gest, Lord Upjohn, Lord Wilberforce, Lord Donovan

Citations:

[1970] AC 874, [1969] 3 All ER 172

Statutes:

Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Horn v Sunderland Corporation CA 1941
Compulsory Purchase Damages limited to Actual Loss
Rule (6) was designed to preserve the effect of the 19th Century case-law under the 1845 Act, by which personal loss caused by the compulsory acquisition was treated as part of the value to the owner of the land: ‘the owner in a proper case – that . .

Cited by:

Cited – Prudential Plc and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Special Commissioner of Income Tax and Another SC 23-Jan-2013
The appellants resisted disclosure to the revenue of advice it had received. It claimed legal advice privilege (LAP), though the advice was from its accountants.
Held: (Lords Sumption and Clarke dissenting) LAP applies to all communications . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Land

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.470884

Ryde International Plc v London Regional Transport: CA 5 Mar 2004

The landowner had developed land which was then made the subject of compulsory purchase. The court was asked how the compensation was to be calculated. The landowner expected to sell the development as a whole. The respondent argued that the profit which a purchaser would build into that purchase should affect the compensation.
Held: The land was to be valued as a single whole. It was to be calculated as a disturbance loss under 5(6) rather than 5(2).

Judges:

Lord Justice Mance Vice-Chancellor, The Vice-Chancellor Lord Justice Carnwath

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 232, Gazette 25-Mar-2004

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Land Compensation Act 1961 5(2) 5(6)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Director of Buildings and Lands v Shun Fung Ironworks Ltd PC 20-Feb-1995
Compensation is payable for losses properly anticipating resumption of possession of the land. The principle of equivalence gives rise to the statutory right to interest under section 11(1). The council explained the conceptual foundation of the . .
Cited – Kashif Mallick v Liverpool City Council CA 14-Jul-1999
Where payment of compensation for the compulsory purchase of land was delayed, the interest set down by the Act as prescribed from time to time was the only compensation payable for that delay. The claimant’s losses in this case by way of loss of . .
Cited – Pastoral Finance Association v The Minister 1914
. .
Cited – Gray v Inland Revenue Commissioners CA 24-Feb-1994
Partnership interests in a tenanted freehold estate can be valued together. The court considered the ‘statutory hypothetical sale’ when valuing property for Inheritance Tax purposes: ‘The property must be assumed to have been capable of sale in the . .
Cited – D M’Ewing and Sons v Renfrewshire County Council 1960
. .
Cited – Horn v Sunderland Corporation CA 1941
Compulsory Purchase Damages limited to Actual Loss
Rule (6) was designed to preserve the effect of the 19th Century case-law under the 1845 Act, by which personal loss caused by the compulsory acquisition was treated as part of the value to the owner of the land: ‘the owner in a proper case – that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land, Damages

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.194289

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. What would be the cost of replacing the mother’s care. Authority suggested the cost of employing a nanny even if one had not in fact been employed, but the court must be careful not to over compensate. Travel costs either for a nanny or for travel to and from the nanny were properly included if reasonable.

Judges:

Crane J

Citations:

[2000] Lloyd’s Rep Med 287)

Statutes:

Fatal Accidents Act 1976

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Considered – Hay v Hughes CA 17-Oct-1974
A couple had died in a road accident. The court considered the award of damages for dependency. . .
Cited – 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 . .
Considered – Stanley v Saddique 1991
. .

Cited by:

Disapproved – 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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.180977

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 detracted from his enjoyment of his dwelling.
Held: ‘The cases referred to upon this subject shew that there are three things which the plaintiff must substantiate, beyond the existence of the mere public nuisance, before he can be entitled to recover. In the first place, he must shew a particular injury to himself beyond that which is suffered by the rest of the public. It is not enough for him to shew that he suffers the same inconvenience in the use of the highway as other people do, if the alleged nuisance be the obstruction of a highway.
Other cases shew that the injury to the individual must be direct, and not a mere consequential injury; as, where one way is obstructed, but another (though possibly less convenient one) is left open; in such a case the private and particular injury has been held not to be sufficiently direct to give a cause of action. Further, the injury must be shewn to be of a substantial character, not fleeting or evanescent.’

Judges:

Brett J

Citations:

(1874) LR 9 CP 400

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – 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 . .
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.

Nuisance, Damages

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.180964

Rolls Royce Ltd and another v Heavylift-Volga Dnepr Ltd and another: QBD 26 Apr 2000

There is no effective difference between the words ‘aerodrome’ and ‘airport’. One is merely an old-fashioned version of the other. Where goods were damaged when the carriers storage agents sought to lift them. By that time, the carriage of the goods by air had begun, and the Warsaw convention applied with the effect of limiting the damages to be awarded.

Citations:

Gazette 28-Apr-2000, Times 26-Apr-2000

Statutes:

Warsaw Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules regarding International Air Transport 1929

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Transport, Damages

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.88850

Penarth Dock Engineering Co Ltd v Pounds: 1963

The court considered the level of damages to be awarded for misuse of property (failing to remove a floating dock) which the owner would not have used. The sum was the reasonable cost of hire.

Citations:

[1963] 1 LlR 359

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

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

Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.180880

Hogg v Kirby: 15 Mar 1803

Injunction to restrain publishing a Magazine as a continuation of the Plaintiff’s Magazine in numbers, and as to communications from correspondents, received by the Defendant while publishing for the Plaintiff ; not preventing the publication of an original work of the same nature, and under a similar title. The Plaintiff was proprietor of a work, published in monthly numbers under the title ‘The Wonderful Magazine’.
Held: In assessing damages in a passing off case, the court said, ‘what is the consequence in Law and in Equity? . . a Court of Equity in these cases is not content with an action for damages; for it is nearly impossible to know the extent of the damage; and therefore the remedy here, though not compensating the pecuniary damage except by an account of profits, is the best: the remedy by an injunction and account.’ The reason for the general rule in courts of equity that an injunction would be granted as a matter of course to restrain infringements of property rights was the inadequacy of damages as a remedy.’

Judges:

Lord Eldon LC

Citations:

[1803] EngR 513, (1803) 8 Ves Jun 215, (1803) 32 ER 336 (B)

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Hogg v Kirby 1789
. .

Cited by:

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 – Ludlow Music Inc v Williams and others ChD 2-Oct-2000
The claimant sought damages for copyright infringement in respect of two works which parodied a song to which they owned the rights.
Held: The amount copied, being as much as a quarter of the original work, meant that the claim was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property, Damages, Equity

Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.180887

United Australia Ltd v Barclays Bank Ltd: HL 1940

A person whose goods were wrongfully converted by another had a choice of two remedies against the wrongdoer. He could recover damages, in respect of the loss he had sustained by the conversion, or he could recover the proceeds of the conversion obtained by the defendant. It is necessary to distinguish election between remedies from election between rights. The House could hear ‘ghosts clanking their mediaeval chains.’

Judges:

Lord Romer, Lord Atkin

Citations:

[1940] 4 All ER 20, [1941] AC 1

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Oliver Ashworth (Holdings) Limited v Ballard (Kent) Limited CA 18-Mar-1999
In order for the landlord to claim double rent where a tenant held over unlawfully after the tenancy was determined, the landlord must not do anything to indicate that the lease might be continuing, for example by denying the validity of break . .
Cited – Regina (G) v Immigration Appeal Tribunal; Regina (M) v Immigration Appeal Tribunal Admn 25-Mar-2004
The applicants sought judicial review of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal’s refusal of leave to appeal. The court had to decide whether such a right survived section 101 of the 2001 Act.
Held: The right to have a judicial review could only be . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Damages

Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.180889

Heron International v Lord Grade, Associated Communications Corp. Plc. and Others: CA 1983

In the course of a contested take-over bid, the directors of the target company who owned a majority of the company’s voting shares were alleged, in breach of their duties both to the company and to its shareholders, to have accepted proposals which would reduce the value of the company’s assets and hence of its shares and induce the shareholders to accept the lower of two rival offers.
Held: A breach of a director’s fiduciary duties may cause loss to the shareholders because: ‘they are deprived of the opportunity of realising their shares to greater advantage’. Foss v. Harbottle has nothing whatever to do with a shareholder’s right of action for a direct loss caused to his own pocket as distinct from a loss caused to the coffers of a company in which he holds shares. The case occurred where, as a result of the breach of the duty of care on the part of directors to advise their shareholders in relation to a prospective takeover bid, the plaintiff (and other shareholders) was induced or compelled to dispose of his shares to a bidder at an under-value. The wrong is done not to the company, but the shareholders. Its assets are not depleted; its coffers remain unaffected. The court distinguished the facts on the bais that the reckless decision of the directors, if implemented, will cause losses in two directions. The company in question will suffer a loss to the extent that its shares in a subsidiary are depreciated in value. That is a loss exclusively to the coffers of ACC. It is not a loss to the pockets of the shareholders in ACC, although it might, in theory, cause the market value of ACC shares to fall. No shareholder in ACC could sue the directors for a diminution in the value. In this case, however the loss which would be suffered is the loss to the pockets of the shareholders because they are deprived of the opportunity of realising their shares to greater advantage. That is a loss suffered exclusively to the pockets of the shareholders, and is in no sense a loss to the coffers of the company, which remain totally unaffected.

Judges:

Lawton LJ

Citations:

[1983] BCLC 244

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v Newman Industries Ltd (No 2) CA 1982
A plaintiff shareholder cannot recover damages merely because the company in which he has an interest has suffered damage. He cannot recover a sum equal to the diminution in the market value of his shares, or equal to the likely diminution in . .

Cited by:

Cited – Stein v Blake and others CA 13-Oct-1997
The defendants challenged leave to appeal given to the plaintiff against dismissal of his claim following the Prudential Assurance case.
Held: The issue was whether the plaintiff can recover the loss which he has allegedly sustained by reason . .
Cited – Johnson v Gore Wood and Co HL 14-Dec-2000
Shareholder May Sue for Additional Personal Losses
A company brought a claim of negligence against its solicitors, and, after that claim was settled, the company’s owner brought a separate claim in respect of the same subject-matter.
Held: It need not be an abuse of the court for a shareholder . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Company, Damages

Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.180877

Lever v Goodwin: CA 1887

In trade mark and patent cases the plaintiff was entitled, if he succeeded in getting an injunction, to take either of two forms of relief: he might claim from the defendant either the damage he had sustained from the defendant’s wrongful act or the profit made by the defendant from the defendant’s wrongful act.
Chitty J described a class of case where relief was approriate in a passing off case: ‘In the second class of cases which I am considering, the trade is not deceived. I am speaking from my large experience in these matters. The retail buyers know from whom they are buying, and, if there is anything like a fraudulent device, such as I am referring to, they are not taken in, they are not deceived. But what is done by the manufacturer is this – he puts an instrument of fraud into their hands. It has been said more than once in this case, in substance, that the manufacturer ought not to be held liable for the fraud of the ultimate seller, that is, the shop-keeper, or the shop-keeper’s assistant. But that is not the right view of the case. Have the Defendants in this case, or not, knowingly put into the hands of the shopman, who is more or less scrupulous or unscrupulous, the means of deceiving the ultimate purchaser? That is the question which I have to try, and that is a question of fact, and nothing else.’

Judges:

Cotton LJ, Chitty J

Citations:

(1887) 36 Ch D 1, (1887) 4 RPC 492

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Followed – Edelsten v Edelsten ChD 28-Jan-1863
The plaintiff sought an injunction and damages for infringement by the defendant of his trade mark.
Held: The infringement was innocent. The plaintiff was entitled to an injunction, but for damages only after the defendant had become aware of . .

Cited by:

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 – British Telecommunications Plc; Virgin Enterprises Ltd; J Sainsbury Plc; Marks and Spencer Plc and Ladbroke Group Plc v One In a Million Ltd and others CA 23-Jul-1998
Registration of a distinctive Internet domain name using registered trade marks and company names could be an infringement of a registered Trade Mark, and also passing off. It was proper to grant quia timet injunctions where necessary to stop . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property, Damages

Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.180888

Glen and Other v Korean Airlines Company Ltd: QBD 28 Mar 2003

The claimant sought damages for personal injuries under the Act. The injuries were psychiatric, being suffered when they witnessed a crash from the ground.
Held: Psychiatric injury is a recognised form of personal injury, and no statute excluded such claims, and nor was there any reason why they should be excluded from the statute. The law had changed since the earlier statute. However the normal requirements as to foreseeability and remoteness applied.

Judges:

Simon J

Citations:

Times 18-Apr-2003

Statutes:

Civil Aviation Act 1982 76(2), Air Navigation Act 1920

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – King v Bristow Helicopters Ltd; Morris v KLM Royal Dutch Airlines HL 28-Feb-2002
Psychiatric Injury under Warsaw Convention
The applicants were passengers who claimed damages for psychiatric injury, after accidents in aircraft.
Held: The Convention created strict liability on air carriers, but explicitly restricted damages to be payable for ‘bodily injury’. That . .
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury, Transport

Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.180853

Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v Puncture Proof Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd: 1899

There are two essential principles in valuing a claim for damages: first, that the plaintiffs must prove their loss: second, that the defendants being wrong-doers, damages should be liberally assessed but that the object is to compensate the plaintiffs and not punish the defendants.

Citations:

(1899) 16 RPC 209

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Coflexip Sacoflexip Stena Offshore Limited v Stolt Offshore Limitedstolt Offshore Limited Stolt Offshore A/S CA 13-Mar-2003
In proceedings already heard the defendant had been found liable for patent infringement, and damages remained to be assessed. They claimed for loss of profits and royalties, and for damages through dilution of the market. The claimants said that to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property, Damages

Updated: 27 April 2022; Ref: scu.179762

Stroms Bruks Aktie Bolag and Others v J and P Hutchison: HL 4 Aug 1905

A charter-party contained a clause, ‘penalty for non-performance of this agreement, estimated amount of freight on quantity not shipped in accordance herewith.’ The shipowner failed to send a ship for one of the shipments stipulated for. Held (aff judgment of the First Division) that the shipowner was not deprived of his right to have an award of damages commensurate with the loss sustained.
Manufacturers of wood pulp in Sweden contracted by charter-party with shipowners for the carriage of a quantity of wood pulp ‘in August-September’ (owners’ option), the vessel being entitled after loading to call at other ports, to Cardiff. They also sold the same quantity of wood pulp to vendees, manufacturers at Cardiff, ‘mode and place of delivery,’ ‘c.i.f. Penarth Dock, Cardiff,’ ‘time of delivery’ ‘August-September.’ The shipowners having failed to supply a ship, the vendees purchased at home the quantity of wood pulp and received from the charterers, as damages for breach of the contract of sale, the difference between the cost of so doing and the contract price. The charterers then sought to recover from the shipowners, who admitted the breach of their contract, but defended on the ground that the charterers were suing for special damages to which they were not entitled, inasmuch as the two contracts did not coincide, and had not in their summons sued for general damages.
Held (rev. the judgment of the First Division) that the charterers were entitled to recover, inasmuch as the ‘proper measure of the damages was the cost of replacing the goods at their place of destination at the time when they ought to have arrived, less the value of the goods in Sweden and the amount of the freight and insurance,’ and the purchases by the vendees was proof of such cost.
Opinion per curiam that there is no difference between the law of Scotland and the law of England as to the measure of damages in such circumstances. Dunlop v. Higgins (1848), 1 H.L.C. 381, adversely commented on.

Citations:

[1905] UKHL 844, 42 SLR 844

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Contract, Damages

Updated: 26 April 2022; Ref: scu.621189

Stapley v Gypsum Mines Ltd: HL 25 Jun 1953

Plaintiff to take own responsibility for damage

The question was whether the fault of the deceased’s fellow workman, they both having disobeyed their foreman’s instructions, was to be regarded as having contributed to the accident.
Held: A plaintiff must ‘share in the responsibility for the damage’ for the Act to apply, and this involves consideration not only of the blameworthiness of each party but also of the relative importance of a plaintiff’s acts in causing damage, apart from his blameworthiness. The court is concerned with the causative potency matters giving rise to the result of the accident, not just to the accident itself. The question as to what caused an accident must be determined as a properly instructed and reasonable jury would decide it, by applying common sense to the facts of each particular case.
Reid L said: ‘Finally, it is necessary to apply the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act, 1945. Sellers J. reduced the damages by one half, holding both parties equally to blame. Normally one would not disturb such an award, but Sellers J. does not appear to have taken into account the fact that Stapley deliberately and culpably entered the stope. By doing so it appears to me that he contributed to the accident much more directly than Dale. The Act directs that the damages ‘shall be reduced to such extent as the court thinks just and equitable having regard to the claimant’s share in the responsibility for the damage’ (section 1(1)). A court must deal broadly with the problem of apportionment and in considering what is just and equitable must have regard to the blameworthiness of each party, but ‘the claimant’s share in the responsibility for the damage’ cannot, I think, be assessed without considering the relative importance of his acts in causing the damage apart from his blameworthiness. It may be that in this case Dale was not much less to blame than Stapley, but Stapley’s conduct in entering the stope contributed more immediately to the accident than anything that Dale did or failed to do. I agree with your Lordships that in all the circumstances it is proper in this case to reduce the damages by 80% and to award 20%. of the damages to the appellant. ‘
and ‘One may find that as a matter of history several people have been at fault and that if any one of them had acted properly the accident would not have happened, but that does not mean that the accident must be regarded as having been caused by the faults of all of them. One must discriminate between those faults which must be discarded as being too remote and those which must not. Sometimes it is proper to discard all but one and to regard that one as the sole cause, but in other cases it is proper to regard two or more as having jointly caused the accident. I doubt whether any test can be applied generally.’
Lord Asquith said that court of law: ‘must accept the fact that the philosophic doctrine of causation and the juridical doctrine of responsibility for the consequences of a negligent act diverge.’ The law is concerned with assigning responsibility for the consequences of the breach, and a defendant is not necessarily responsible in law for everything that follows from his act, even if it is wrongful.

Judges:

Reid L, Porter L, Oaksey L, Tucker L

Citations:

[1953] AC 663, [1953] UKHL 4, [1953] 2 All ER 478, [1953] 3 WLR 279

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 1(1)

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 . .

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 – Exel Logistics Ltd v Curran and others CA 30-Sep-2004
The claimants sought damages for personal injuries after a crash in a Land Rover maintained by the defendants. The defendants appealed findings of negligence in failing properly to inflate the rear tyres, in continuing despite the danger, and poor . .
Cited – Chester v Afshar HL 14-Oct-2004
The claimant suffered back pain for which she required neurosurgery. The operation was associated with a 1-2% risk of the cauda equina syndrome, of which she was not warned. She went ahead with the surgery, and suffered that complication. The . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Reeves (Joint Administratix of The Estate of Martin Lynch, Deceased) HL 15-Jul-1999
The deceased was a prisoner known to be at risk of committing suicide. Whilst in police custody he hanged himself in his prison cell. The Commissioner accepted that he was in breach of his duty of care to the deceased, but not that that breach was . .
Cited – Badger v The Ministry of Defence QBD 16-Dec-2005
The widow of the deceased sought damages after his exposure to asbestos whilst working for the defendant. He had contracted lung cancer. The defendant argued that the deceased had continued to smoke knowing of the risks, and that he had made a . .
Cited – National Coal Board v England HL 1954
The plaintiff sought damages after being injured when a co-worker fired a shot. The employee however had himself coupled the detonator to the cable rather than leaving it to the shotfirer, and had his cimmitted a criminal offence. He had been found . .
Cited – Vellino v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police CA 31-Jul-2001
The police were not under any duty to protect someone who had been arrested from injuring himself in an attempt to escape. The claimant had a history of seeking to avoid capture by jumping from his flat window. On this occasion he injured himself in . .
Cited – Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd HL 27-Feb-2008
The claimant’s husband had committed suicide. She sought damages for financial loss from his former employers under the 1976 Act. He had suffered a severe and debilitating injury working for them leading to his depression and suicide. The employers . .
Cited – St George v The Home Office CA 8-Oct-2008
The claimant was taken into prison. He was known to be subject to epilepsy, with high risks on withdrawal from drugs, but was allocated a high bunk. He had a seizure and fell, suffering head injuries. He sought damages in negligence. The defendant . .
Cited – Smith v Skanska Construction Services Ltd QBD 29-Jul-2008
The court considered whether the driver of a vehicle involved in a fatal road accident in Thailand was driving within the authority of the UK employers. The driver was not an employee but had authority to use company vehicles for tasks for the . .
Applied – Clay v AJ Crump and Sons Ltd CA 1964
An architect, a demolition contractor and a building contractor were each held liable to an employee of building contractors for the collapse of a wall which, with the architect’s approval, demolition contractors had left standing.
Held: As . .
Cited – Jackson v Murray and Another SC 18-Feb-2015
Child not entirely free of responsibility
The claimant child, left a school bus and stepped out from behind it into the path of the respondent’s car. She appealed against a finding of 70% contributory negligence.
Held: Her appeal succeeded (Majority, Lord Hodge and Lord Wilson . .
Cited – BPE Solicitors and Another v Hughes-Holland (In Substitution for Gabriel) SC 22-Mar-2017
The court was asked what damages are recoverable in a case where (i) but for the negligence of a professional adviser his client would not have embarked on some course of action, but (ii) part or all of the loss which he suffered by doing so arose . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Negligence, Damages, Vicarious Liability

Leading Case

Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.185853

Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd: HL 27 Feb 2008

The claimant’s husband had committed suicide. She sought damages for financial loss from his former employers under the 1976 Act. He had suffered a severe and debilitating injury working for them leading to his depression and suicide. The employers said that these damages were too remote.
Held: The employer’s appeal was dismissed.
Lord Bingham said: ‘Mr Corr’s suicide was not a voluntary, informed decision taken by him as an adult of sound mind making and giving effect to a personal decision about his future. It was the response of a man suffering from a severely depressive illness which impaired his capacity to make reasoned and informed judgments about his future, such illness being, as is accepted, a consequence of the employer’s tort. It is in no way unfair to hold the employer responsible for this dire consequence of its breach of duty, although it could well be thought unfair to the victim not to do so.’ and ‘The law does not generally treat us as our brother’s keeper, responsible for what he may choose to do to his own disadvantage. It is his choice. But I do not think that the submission addresses the particular features of this case. The employer owed the deceased the duty already noted, embracing psychological as well as physical injury. Its breach caused him injury of both kinds. While he was not, at the time of his death, insane in M’Naghten’s terms, nor was he fully responsible. He acted in a way which he would not have done but for the injury from which the employer’s breach caused him to suffer. This being so, I do not think his conduct in taking his own life can be said to fall outside the scope of the duty which his employer owed him. ‘
Lord Hoffmann said: ‘On a ‘but for’ test, his jump from the top of the multi-storey carpark can be said to have been ’caused’ by his employer’s negligence. But the developing case law has placed limits on the extent of the ‘but for’ consequences of actionable negligence for which the negligent actor can be held liable. This case engages and questions the extent of those limits . . The question in this case, therefore, is whether Mr Corr’s deliberate act of jumping from a high building in order to kill himself, an apparent novus actus, albeit one that was causally connected, on a ‘but-for’ basis, to the original negligence, broke the claim of causative consequences for which Mr Corr’s negligent employers must accept responsibility.’

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Lord Mance, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury

Citations:

[2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 2 WLR 499, [2008] 2 All ER 943, [2008] ICR 372, [2008] AC 884, [2008] PIQR P11

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Fatal Accidents Act 1976 1, Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – 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 – 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 . .
Approved – Wright v Davidson 7-Feb-1992
(British Columbia Court of Appeal) The court rejected a claim for damages for a suicide after the deceased claimant had suffered injury in a road collision because the conscious decision of the deceased to take her own life had occurred without any . .
Cited – St George’s Healthcare National Health Service Trust v S (No 2); Regina v Collins and Others ex parte S (No 2) CA 3-Aug-1998
The patient came to hospital pregnant. The doctors advised a caesarian section but she refused it. The doctors said that she lacked capacity and applied to the court for leave to proceed.
Held: It was wrong to apply to the court to override . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Reeves (Joint Administratix of The Estate of Martin Lynch, Deceased) HL 15-Jul-1999
The deceased was a prisoner known to be at risk of committing suicide. Whilst in police custody he hanged himself in his prison cell. The Commissioner accepted that he was in breach of his duty of care to the deceased, but not that that breach was . .
Cited – Daniel MNaghtens Case HL 1843
Daniel M’Naghten suffered from a mental disorder under which he believed that he was being persecuted by various bodies in authority, including the Tory Party. He sought to kill the Tory Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, but shot and killed instead . .
Cited – Stapley v Gypsum Mines Ltd HL 25-Jun-1953
Plaintiff to take own responsibility for damage
The question was whether the fault of the deceased’s fellow workman, they both having disobeyed their foreman’s instructions, was to be regarded as having contributed to the accident.
Held: A plaintiff must ‘share in the responsibility for the . .
Cited – Regina v Kennedy HL 17-Oct-2007
The defendant had been convicted of manslaughter. He had supplied a class A drug to a friend who then died taking it. The House was asked ‘When is it appropriate to find someone guilty of manslaughter where that person has been involved in the . .
Cited – Smith v Leech Brain and Co Ltd CA 1962
The reasoning in The Wagon Mound did not affect the rule that a tortfeasor takes his victim as he finds him.
Lord Parker CJ said: ‘The test is not whether these employers could reasonably have foreseen that a burn would cause cancer and that . .
Cited – Kirkham v Anderton, The Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester police CA 20-Dec-1989
The claimant’s husband hanged himself in Risley Remand Centre after the police had failed to warn the prison authorities that he was (as the police knew) a suicide risk. He was suffering from clinical depression and had previously attempted suicide . .
Cited – AMP General Insurance Ltd v Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales 2001
(Supreme Court of New South Wales) Spigelman CJ said: ‘There was no duty upon the employer . . to protect the deceased from self harm’. . .
Cited – Simmons v British Steel plc HL 29-Apr-2004
The claimant was injured at work as a consequence of the defender’s negligence. His injuries became more severe, and he came to suffer a disabling depression.
Held: the Inner House had been wrong to characterise the Outer House decision as . .
At first Instance – Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd QBD 28-Apr-2005
The claimant’s husband had been employed by the defendant and had suffered severe head injuries because of malfunctioning machinery. He suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and that led to depression. He ultimately committed suicide. His widow . .

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 – St George v The Home Office CA 8-Oct-2008
The claimant was taken into prison. He was known to be subject to epilepsy, with high risks on withdrawal from drugs, but was allocated a high bunk. He had a seizure and fell, suffering head injuries. He sought damages in negligence. The defendant . .
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 – Chubb Fire Ltd v The Vicar of Spalding and Churchwardens and Church Council of The Church of St Mary and St Nicholas, Spalding CA 20-Aug-2010
The appellants had supplied a dry powder extinguisher to the church. Vandals discharged the extinguisher, requiring substantial sums to be spent cleaning the dust. The church’s insurers sought to recover the costs saying that the appellant should . .
Cited – Gnango, Regina v SC 14-Dec-2011
The prosecutor appealed against a successful appeal by the defendant against his conviction for murder. He and an opponent had engaged in a street battle using guns. His opponent had shot an innocent passer by. The court was now asked as to whether . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages

Leading Case

Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.265967

Forsikringsaktieselskapt Vesta v Butcher: HL 1988

A contract of insurance and a facultative reinsurance, under which part of the original risk was reinsured, contained warranties in identical terms.
Held: The warranty in the reinsurance policy, which was governed by English law, should be construed so that it had the same effect as the warranty in the insurance which was governed by Norwegian law which required the breach to be causative of the loss.
A defendant to an allegation of breach of contract was entitled to a defence of contributory negligence if his position as a contract breaker was, by reason of the agreement between the parties, the same as his position as a common law tortfeasor. The definition of fault in the 1945 Act comprises two limbs. The first, referable to the defendant’s conduct, comprises various acts or omissions which give rise to a liability in tort. The second limb, is referable to the plaintiff’s conduct, and deals with acts or omissions which would, but for the Act, have given rise to the defence of contributory negligence.

Judges:

Lord Bridge of Harwich, Lord Templeman, Lord Griffiths, Lord Ackner, Lord Lowry

Citations:

[1988] CLY 413, [1989] AC 852, [1989] UKHL 5, (1988) 2 All ER 43, [1989] 1 Lloyds Rep 331, [1989] Fin LR 223, [1989] 2 WLR 290

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 4

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Distinguished – Tennant Radiant Heat Ltd v Warrington Development Corporation 1988
A property comprised a large building let on fully repairing leases of 22 units. The many rain outlets were allowed to become blocked, and water accumulated above one unit before that part of the roof collapsed. The landlord appealed a finding that . .
Cited – Groupama Navigation Et Transports; Continent Sa; Mutuelles Du Mans; Zurich International France SA and Gie Generali Transports (Bodies Corporate) v V Catatumbo Seguros (a Body Corporate) CA 20-Jul-2000
. .
Cited – Tryg Baltic International (UK) Ltd v Boston Compania De Seguros Sa and others ComC 28-May-2004
Four defendants from Argentina sought to have set aside an order for them to be served, saying the appropriate jursidiction, if there was a triable issue, would be Argentina.
Held: The agreements were to be construed according to English Law. . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Reeves (Joint Administratix of The Estate of Martin Lynch, Deceased) HL 15-Jul-1999
The deceased was a prisoner known to be at risk of committing suicide. Whilst in police custody he hanged himself in his prison cell. The Commissioner accepted that he was in breach of his duty of care to the deceased, but not that that breach was . .
Cited – Lexington Insurance Co v AGF Insurance Ltd HL 30-Jul-2009
The respondent insurers had been held liable in Washington, and had been granted indemnity against the appellants by the Court of Appeal. The insurance contract had been under the law of Pennsylvania, but that of the re-insurance under the law of . .
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. . .
Cited – Banca Nazionale Del Lavoro Spa v Playboy Club London Ltd and Others SC 26-Jul-2018
The Playboy casino required a reference for a customer, but asked for this through a third party. The bank was not aware of the agency but gave a good reference for a customer who had never deposited any money with them and nor to whom it had issued . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Insurance, Contract

Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.194605

McKendrick v Sinclair: HL 15 Mar 1972

The House considered the nature of an action for assythment – a claim for damages by the family of a victim of a homicide where the perpetrator had not suffered capital punishment. The defendant here argued that it was no longer good law.
Held: The common law was not lost through lack of use. The remedy still existed.

Citations:

[1972] UKHL 9, 1972 SLT 110, 1972 SC (HL) 25

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Damages, Constitutional

Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.279735

Devenish Nutrition Ltd and others v Sanofi-Aventis SA (France) and others: ChD 19 Oct 2007

The claimant sought damages for the losses it had suffered as a result of price fixing by the defendant companies in the vitamin market. The European Commission had already fined the defendant for its involvement.
Held: In an action for breach of statutory duty the court can in appropriate circumstances make a restitutionary award, that is, a sum of money assessed by reference to the gain which the wrongdoer has made as a result of the wrong, in place of compensatory damages, that is, damages which compensate the claimant for loss suffered as a result of the wrongdoing. However there were Community rules precluding the award of exemplary damages on the facts of this case.

Judges:

Lewison J

Citations:

[2007] EWHC 2394 (Ch), [2008] 2 WLR 637, [2008] 2 All ER 249

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

EC Treaty 81

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Courage Ltd and Crehan v Crehan and Courage Ltd and Others ECJ 20-Sep-2001
The company had leased a public house to the respondent. The lease was subject to a tie, under which the respondent had to purchase supplies from the company. The company came to sue for the price of beer supplied. The respondent asserted that the . .
Cited – Garden Cottage Foods Ltd v Milk Marketing Board HL 1984
In English law a breach of statutory duty, is actionable as such by a private individual to whom loss or damage is caused by a breach of that duty. Lord Diplock said that it was quite unarguable: ‘that if such a contravention of Article 86 gives . .
Cited – Sempra Metals Ltd v Inland Revenue Commissioners and Another HL 18-Jul-2007
The parties agreed that damages were payable in an action for restitution, but the sum depended upon to a calculation of interest. They disputed whether such interest should be calculated on a simple or compound basis. The company sought compound . .
Cited – The Owners of the Steamship Mediana v The Owners, Master and Crew of the Lightship Comet HL 1900
A lightship was damaged by negligence. The plaintiff harbour board kept a ship ready for emergencies, and consequently the damaged ship was replaced with the spare while she was being repaired. The question was whether the claimant could recover . .
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 – Watson Laidlaw and Co Ltd v Pott Cassells and Williamson 1914
Damages were claimed for the infringement of a patent. The defender had sold 252 infringing machines sold in Java. The Lord Ordinary had given an unexplained award of andpound;1,500, which the Inner House had doubled. The defendant appealed saying . .
Cited – Catnic Components Ltd and Another v Hill and Smith Ltd HL 1982
The plaintiffs had been established as market leaders with their patented construction, had ample production capacity and stocks, but had never granted any licence under their patent. The patent was for a novel type of galvanised steel lintel, which . .
Cited – Gerber Garment Technology Inc v Lectra Systems Ltd ChD 30-Jan-1995
A prior art recital in a Patent application is strong but rebuttable evidence of the state of knowledge. . .
Cited – Gerber Garment Technology Inc v Lectra Systems Limited Lectra Systemes SA CA 18-Dec-1996
The plaintiffs claimed damages for patent infringement. Some of the lost profits for which the plaintiff company claimed damages were suffered by subsidiary companies in which it held all the shares.
Held: When a shareholder has a cause of . .
Cited – Blayney (T/A Aardvark Jewelry) v Clogau St David’s Gold Mines Ltd and others CA 16-Jul-2002
. .
Cited – Ratcliffe v Evans CA 28-May-1892
The plaintiff was an engineer and boiler-maker. He alleged that a statement in the local newspaper that he had ceased business had caused him loss. The evidence that was given at trial consisted of general evidence of a downturn in trade; but the . .
Cited – Elliniki Radiophonia Tileorass-AE v Plisofatissis and Kouvelas ECJ 18-Jun-1991
ellinikiECJ1991
National measures adopted in order to give effect to Community rights must themselves comply with the fundamental principles of Community law: ‘With regard to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, referred to in the ninth and tenth . .
Cited – Regina v Intervention Board for Agricultural Produce, ex parte First City Trading and others ECJ 29-Sep-1998
ECJ Reference for a preliminary ruling: High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division – United Kingdom. Agriculture – Common organisation of the markets – Beef – Export refunds -Beef of British origin repatriated . .
Cited – Manfredi v Lloyd Adriatico Assicurazioni SpA; Antonio Cannito v Fondiaria Sai SpA, Nicolo Tricarico; Pasqualina Murgolo v Assitalia SpA C-295/04 ECJ 13-Jul-2006
ECJ Article 81 EC- Competition – Agreements, decisions and concerted practices – Accidents caused by motor vehicles, vessels and mopeds – Compulsory civil liability insurance – Increase in premiums – Effect on . .
Cited – Archer Daniels Midland and Another v Commission (Competition) ECJ 18-May-2006
ECJ Appeals – Competition – Cartels – Synthetic lysine market – Fines – Guidelines on the method of setting fines – Non-retroactivity – Non bis in idem principle – Equal treatment – Turnover which may be taken . .
Cited – AB v South West Water Services Ltd CA 1993
Exemplary and aggravated damages were claimed in an action for nuisance arising out of the contamination of water by the defendant utility.
Held: Sir Thomas Bingham MR said: ‘A defendant accused of crime may ordinarily be ordered (if . .
Cited – Cassell and Co Ltd v Broome and Another HL 23-Feb-1972
Exemplary Damages Award in Defamation
The plaintiff had been awarded damages for defamation. The defendants pleaded justification. Before the trial the plaintiff gave notice that he wanted additional, exemplary, damages. The trial judge said that such a claim had to have been pleaded. . .
Cited – Borders (UK) Ltd and others v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and Another CA 3-Mar-2005
The second defendant had received large numbers of stolen books and sold them from his stall. An application for compensation was made at his trial. Compensatory and exemplary damages were sought, but the court had to consider how to estimate the . .
Cited – Kuddus v Chief Constable of Leicestershire Constabulary HL 7-Jun-2001
There is no rule of law preventing the award of exemplary damages against police officers. The fact that no case of misfeasance in public office had led to such awards before 1964, did not prevent such an award now. Although damages are generally . .
Cited – Archer v Brown 1984
The defendant sold shares in his company to the plaintiff. He had however already sold them elsewhere. The plaintiff sought both rescission and damages. The defendant argued that he could not be entitled to both.
Held: The misrepresentation . .
Cited – Severn Trent Water Ltd v Barnes CA 13-May-2004
The water company appealed an award of damages after it had been found to have laid a water main under the claimant’s land without his knowledge or consent. The court had awarded restitutionary damages.
Held: The judge fell into error in . .
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 – 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 – 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 – Stoke-on-Trent City Council v W and J Wass Ltd CA 1988
The council had operated open markets on its land under statutory authority. In breach of the statute, the defendant operated a market on a different day, but within the excluded area. This was a nuisance actionable on proof of damage. The council . .
Cited – Halifax Building Society v Thomas and Another CA 29-Jun-1995
Defrauded Mortgagee cannot take surplus on sale
A Building Society cannot keep any excess proceeds of sale of a house mortgaged to it by fraud. Policy was against unjust enrichment and will not allow a lender to take a profit from a fraudulent borrower.
Peter Gibson LJ said: ‘I remain wholly . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Devenish Nutrition Ltd v Sanofi-Aventis Sa (France) and others CA 14-Oct-2008
The defendant had been involved in price fixing arrangements, and the claimant sought damages for breach of its proprietary rights. The claimant appealed refusal of an award an account of profits for what was akin to a breach of statutory duty.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Commercial, European, Damages, Torts – Other

Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.260343

Cassell and Co Ltd v Broome and Another: HL 23 Feb 1972

Exemplary Damages Award in Defamation

The plaintiff had been awarded damages for defamation. The defendants pleaded justification. Before the trial the plaintiff gave notice that he wanted additional, exemplary, damages. The trial judge said that such a claim had to have been pleaded. The Court of Appeal had considered Rookes -v- Barnard to have been decided per incuriam.
Held: It was not for the Court of Appeal to direct a judge to ignore a decision of the House of Lords. The Young case gave guidance to be followed where conflicting decisions existed. ‘The bad conduct of the Plaintiff himself may also enter into the matter, where he has provoked the libel, or where perhaps he has libelled the defendant in reply. What is awarded is thus a figure which cannot be arrived at by any purely objective computation. This is what is meant when the damages in defamation are described as being ‘at large”. Rookes v Barnard was correct. The defendants having calculated that they would receive more from extra sales than they might have to pay in damages, it was open to the court to award exemplary damages. If, but only if, the sum awarded by way of compensation was inadequate to punish the defendant, the jury might mark their disapproval of his conduct by awarding a larger sum. The award of exemplary damages always remains discretionary. Compensatory and exemplary damages are ‘as incompatible as oil and vinegar’
Lord Hailsham considered the role of guidance on levels of damages from the court of appeal: ‘The first, and paramount consideration in my mind is that the jury is, where either party desires it, the only legal and constitutional tribunal for deciding libel damages including the award of damages. I do not think the judiciary at any level should substitute itself for a jury, unless the award is so manifestly too large . . that no sensible jury properly directed could have reached the conclusion . . The point is that the law makes the jury and not the judiciary the constitutional tribunal, and if Parliament had wished the roles to be reversed in any way, Parliament would have said so at the time of the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1933 . . It may very well be that, on the whole, judges, and the legal profession in general, would be less generous than juries in the award of damages for defamation. But I know of no principle of reason which would entitle judges, whether of appeal or at first instance, to consider that their own sense of the proprieties is more reasonable than that of a jury, or which would entitle them to arrogate to themselves a constitutional status in this matter which Parliament has deliberately withheld from them, for aught we know, on the very ground that juries can be expected to be more generous on such matter than judges.’
Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest said: ‘I do not think that the word ‘calculated’ was used to denote some precise balancing process. The situation contemplated is where someone faces up to the possibility of having to pay damages for doing something which may be held to have been wrong but where nevertheless he deliberately carries out his plan because he thinks that it will work out satisfactorily for him.’
Otherwise Broome v Cassell and Co Ltd

Judges:

Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone LC, Lord Reid, Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, Viscount Dilhorne, Lord Wilberforce, Lord Diplock and Lord Kilbrandon

Citations:

[1972] 2 WLR 645, [1972] AC 1027, [1972] UKHL 3

Links:

lip, Bailii

Statutes:

Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1933

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Correct – 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 – Young v The Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd CA 28-Jul-1944
Court of Appeal must follow Own Decisions
The claimant was injured and received compensation. He then sought to recover again, alleging breach of statutory duty by his employers.
Held: The Court of Appeal was in general bound to follow its own previous decisions. The court considered . .
Cited – E Hulton and Co v Jones HL 1910
An article was written by a correspondent of an English newspaper reporting that at a large and well attended motor vehicle show in France there on the terraces was ‘Artemus Jones with a woman not his wife who must be you know – the other thing.’ . .
Cited – Australian Consolidated Press Limited v Uren PC 24-Jul-1967
The Board declined to interfere with the decision of the High Court of Australia not to review its jurisprudence on exemplary damages: ‘[I]n a sphere of law where its policy calls for decision and where its policy in a particular country is . .
Cited – Uren v John Fairfax and Sons Pty Ltd 2-Jun-1966
(High Court of Australia) ‘It seems to us that, in a case where there is no qualified privilege to report or repeat the defamatory statements of others, the whole cohesion of the law of defamation would be destroyed, if it were permissible merely to . .
Cited – Ley v Hamilton HL 1935
The House approved awards of punitive or exemplary damages. Lord Atkin said: said that damages awards for defamation were not arrived at ‘by determining the ‘real’ damage and adding to that a sum by way of vindictive or punitive damages. It is . .
Cited – Manson v Associated Newspapers Ltd 1965
Widgery J said: ‘Of course, a newspaper is always published for profit. It is the purpose of a newspaper to make money and build up circulation. You must not go away with the idea that because of that any libel in a newspaper is a libel for which . .
Cited – Broadway Approvals Ltd v Odhams Press Ltd (No 2) CA 1965
A company’s mind is not to be assessed on the totality of knowledge of its employees. Malice was not to be established by forensic imagination however eloquently and subtly expressed.
Russell LJ said: ‘the law of libel seems to have . .
Cited – Mafo v Adams CA 1969
The plaintiff tenant was tricked out of the occupancy of the flat he was living in by a blatant fraud perpetrated by the defendant landlord. He sued for damages for fraud, and was awarded compensation for the inconvenience and discomfort. In a case . .
Cited – Fielding v Variety Incorporated CA 1967
. .
Cited – Practice Statement (Judicial Precedent) HL 1966
The House gave guidance how it would treat an invitation to depart from a previous decision of the House. Such a course was possible, but the direction was not an ‘open sesame’ for a differently constituted committee to prefer their views to those . .
Appeal from – Cassell and Co Ltd v Broome and Another CA 24-Mar-1971
. .
Cited – Hulton and Co v Jones HL 6-Dec-1909
The defendant newspaper published an article describing the attendance at a motor race at Dieppe. It described the antics, intending to refer to a fictitious person, of one Artemus Jones, and said of him that he was ‘with a woman who is not his . .

Cited by:

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 – 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 – Godfrey v Demon Internet Limited (2) QBD 23-Apr-1999
Evidence of Reputation Admissible but Limited
The plaintiff had brought an action for damages for defamation. The defendant wished to amend its defence to include allegations that the plaintiff had courted litigation by his action.
Held: A judge assessing damages should be able see the . .
Cited – Design Progression Limited v Thurloe Properties Limited ChD 25-Feb-2004
The tenant applied for a licence to assign. The landlord failed to reply, anticipating that delay would allow it to generate a better lease renewal.
Held: The delay was unreasonable and a breach of the landlord’s statutory duty, and was an act . .
Applied – Riches v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 20-Feb-1985
The defendant published serious defamatory allegations against several plaintiff police officers. The defendant newspaper appealed against an award of andpound;250,000 exemplary damages for their defamation of the respondent police officers.
Cited – George Galloway MP v Telegraph Group Ltd QBD 2-Dec-2004
The claimant MP alleged defamation in articles by the defendant newspaper. They claimed to have found papers in Iraqi government offices after the invasion of Iraq which implicated the claimant. The claimant said the allegations were grossly . .
Cited – Borders (UK) Ltd and others v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and Another CA 3-Mar-2005
The second defendant had received large numbers of stolen books and sold them from his stall. An application for compensation was made at his trial. Compensatory and exemplary damages were sought, but the court had to consider how to estimate the . .
Cited – Merson v Cartwright, The Attorney General PC 13-Oct-2005
(Bahamas) The defendant police had appealed the quantum of damages awarded to the claimant for assault and battery and false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, saying that she had been doubly compensated. The claimant now appealed reduction of . .
Cited – Kay and Another v London Borough of Lambeth and others; Leeds City Council v Price and others and others HL 8-Mar-2006
In each case the local authority sought to recover possession of its own land. In the Lambeth case, they asserted this right as against an overstaying former tenant, and in the Leeds case as against gypsies. In each case the occupiers said that the . .
Cited – A v Bottrill PC 9-Jul-2002
PC (New Zealand) The defendant was a pathologist who carried out cervical smears. His actions were found to be negligent.
Held: The Board considered whether it would be correct to require an additional . .
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 – Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 24-Jul-2008
The defendant published a film showing the claimant involved in sex acts with prostitutes. It characterised them as ‘Nazi’ style. He was the son of a fascist leader, and a chairman of an international sporting body. He denied any nazi element, and . .
Cited – Smith v ADVFN Plc and others QBD 25-Jul-2008
The claimant had brought multiple actions in defamation against anonymous posters on an online forum. The claimant sought to lift the stay which had been imposed because of the number of actions. The claimant had not yet paid outstanding costs . .
Cited – Devenish Nutrition Ltd and others v Sanofi-Aventis SA (France) and others ChD 19-Oct-2007
The claimant sought damages for the losses it had suffered as a result of price fixing by the defendant companies in the vitamin market. The European Commission had already fined the defendant for its involvement.
Held: In an action for breach . .
Cited – Purdy, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions and others CA 19-Feb-2009
The claimant suffered a debilitating terminal disease. She anticipated going to commit suicide at a clinic in Switzerland, and wanted first a clear policy so that her husband who might accompany her would know whether he might be prosecuted under . .
Cited – Takitota v the Attorney General and others PC 18-Mar-2009
(Bahamas) The applicant a tourist had been wrongfully detained in appalling conditions in the Bahamas for over eight years after he lost his documents. He now appealed against an award of $500,000 dollars compensation.
Held: ‘it would not be . .
Cited – Regina v Inland Revenue Commissioners ex parte Rossminster Ltd HL 13-Dec-1979
The House considered the power of an officer of the Board of Inland Revenue to seize and remove materials found on premises which a warrant obtained on application to the Common Serjeant authorised him to enter and search; but where the source of . .
Cited – Thornton v Telegraph Media Group Ltd QBD 16-Jun-2010
The claimant said that a review of her book was defamatory and a malicious falsehood. The defendant now sought summary judgment or a ruling as to the meaning of the words complained of.
Held: The application for summary judgment succeeded. The . .
Cited – Brugger v Medic-Aid Ltd PatC 1996
The defendant had admitted copying B’s drawings and designs for the creation of a nebulizer. To assist its election on damages, B sought preparation of details of the sales including costs and sale prices. When B also sought statutory damages, M . .
See Also – Cassell and Co Ltd v Broome (No 2) HL 24-Feb-1972
Their Lordships varied an order for costs already made by the House in circumstances where the parties had not had a fair opportunity to address argument on the point. As the ultimate court of appeal, the House has power to correct any injustice . .
Cited – Wright v Gregson and Others QBD 1-Jul-2010
The defendant denied that the words complained of were bore the defamatory meaning alleged, and asked the court to rule accordingly and to strike out he claim. He complained of comments about his intentions for the use of money raised for charitable . .
Cited – Lawrence and Another v Fen Tigers Ltd and Others QBD 4-Mar-2011
The claimants had complained that motor-cycle and other racing activities on neighbouring lands were a noise nuisance, but the court also considered that agents of the defendants had sought to intimidate the claimants into not pursuing their action. . .
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 . .
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 – Haney and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Justice SC 10-Dec-2014
The four claimants, each serving indeterminate prison sentences, said that as they approached the times when thy might apply for parol, they had been given insufficient support and training to meet the requirements for release. The courts below had . .
Cited – Dhir v Saddler QBD 6-Dec-2017
Slander damages reduced for conduct
Claim in slander. The defendant was said, at a church meeting to have accused the client of threatening to slit her throat. The defendant argued that the audience of 80 was not large enough.
Held: ‘the authorities demonstrate that it is the . .
Cited – Turley v Unite The Union and Another QBD 19-Dec-2019
Defamation of Labour MP by Unite and Blogger
The claimant now a former MP had alleged that a posting on a website supported by the first defendant was false and defamatory. The posting suggested that the claimant had acted dishonestly in applying online for a category of membership of the . .
Cited – Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd and Another SC 12-Jun-2019
Need to Show Damage Increased by 2013 Act
The claimant alleged defamation by three publishers. The articles were held to have defamatory meaning, but the papers argued that the defamations did not reach the threshold of seriousness in section 1(1) of the 2013 Act.
Held: The appeal . .
Cited – Simon and Others v Lyder and Another PC 29-Jul-2019
(Trinidad and Tobago) The Board was asked as to the well-known conundrum in the common law of defamation, namely the extent to which (if at all) two or more different statements made upon different occasions by the same defendant may be aggregated . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation, Damages, Litigation Practice, Constitutional

Leading Case

Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.174047

Collins Stewart Ltd and Another v The Financial Times Ltd: QBD 20 Oct 2004

The claimants sought damages for defamation. The claimed that the article had caused very substantial losses (andpound;230 million) to them by affecting their market capitalisation value. The defendant sought to strike out that part of the claim.
Held: The possible market capitalisation of the claimants was far too uncertain a basis for calculating damages. The claimant had simply asked the court to take its figures on trust, and it was a proposition of law rather than fact. The possible capitalisation was not the same as market value. Where market values were used as a basis for damages, the courts generally used the value as at the date of the wrong, not some future date.

Judges:

Tugendhat J

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 2337 (QB), Times 26-Oct-2004, [2005] EMLR 64

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Livingstone v Rawyards Coal Co HL 13-Feb-1880
Damages or removal of coal under land
User damages were awarded for the unauthorised removal of coal from beneath the appellant’s land, even though the site was too small for the appellant to have mined the coal himself. The appellant was also awarded damages for the damage done to the . .
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 – Johnson v Gore Wood and Co HL 14-Dec-2000
Shareholder May Sue for Additional Personal Losses
A company brought a claim of negligence against its solicitors, and, after that claim was settled, the company’s owner brought a separate claim in respect of the same subject-matter.
Held: It need not be an abuse of the court for a shareholder . .
Cited – Ratcliffe v Evans CA 28-May-1892
The plaintiff was an engineer and boiler-maker. He alleged that a statement in the local newspaper that he had ceased business had caused him loss. The evidence that was given at trial consisted of general evidence of a downturn in trade; but 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 – Tolstoy Miloslavsky v United Kingdom ECHR 19-Jul-1995
The applicant had been required to pay andpound;124,900 as security for the respondent’s costs as a condition of his appeal against an award of damages in a defamation case.
Held: It followed from established case law that article 6(1) did not . .
Cited – Giles v Rhind CA 17-Oct-2002
An action by a company under a shareholder’s agreement was compromised. The other shareholder now sought to commence an action against the party in breach for his personal losses. The defendant argued that the company’s compromise was binding also . .
Cited – Trego v Hunt HL 1896
The court defined the meaning of the goodwill of a business: ‘What ‘goodwill’ means must depend on the character and nature of the business to which it is attached. Generally speaking, it means much more than what Lord Eldon took it to mean in the . .
Cited – Lonrho Plc and Others v Fayed and Others (No 5) CA 27-Jul-1993
Defamatory statements causing pecuniary loss may give rise to an action in tort only. The boundaries set by the tort of defamation are not to be side-stepped by allowing a claim in contract that would not succeed in defamation. A claimant cannot, by . .
Cited – Lewis v Daily Telegraph Ltd CA 1963
The court considered a request from jurors when assessing damages in a defamation trial for details of the movements in share prices of the plaintiff.
Held: No further evidence could be called. . .
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 – McCarthy Stone plc and others v The Daily Telegraph CA 11-Nov-1993
Counsel had wished to open his case to the jury with a reference to the fall of pounds 10m in the plaintiff company’s market capitalisation which occurred because of the defendant’s article complained of. It was said that the fall in the share price . .
Cited – Lee v Sheard CA 1956
The negligence of a car driver resulted in an injury to the plaintiff who was one of two directors and shareholders of a limited company and did outside work of buying and selling linen goods for it. As a consequence of the accident the plaintiff . .
Cited – Right Hon Aitken MP and Preston; Pallister and Guardian Newspapers Ltd CA 15-May-1997
The defendants appealed against an order that a defamation trial should proced before a judge alone.
Held: ‘Where the parties, or one of them, is a public figure, or there are matters of national interest in question, this would suggest the . .
Cited – Goldsmith v Pressdram Ltd CA 1988
The court considered whether to order a defamation trial to be before a judge alone, or with a jury.
Held: The word ‘examination’ has a wide connotation, is not limited to the documents which contain the actual evidence in the case and . .
Cited – Field v Local Sunday Newspapers Limited 10-Dec-2001
The court considered whether to order jury trial of a defamation action.
Held: The triggers of ‘prolonged examination’ and ‘inconvenience’ are not two separate requirements and must be considered together, although it is convenient to take . .
Cited – Chanel Ltd v F W Woolworth and Co CA 1981
On an interlocutory application by the claimant for relief in respect of alleged infringement of trademark and passing off the defendant gave undertakings until judgment or further order. Shortly thereafter the Court of Appeal in another case upheld . .
Cited – Beta Construction Ltd v Channel Four Television Co Ltd CA 1990
When considering the number of documents to be considered when deciding whether a defamation case should proceed before a judge or judge and jury, the court was entitled to look also at any specialised technical content of the documents and also . .

Cited by:

See also – Collins Stewart Ltd and Another v The Financial Times Ltd QBD 25-Feb-2005
The court considered whether damages in a defamation action pursued in respect of one publication were to be increased by subsequent publications not themselves the subject of a claim. . .
See Also – Collins Stewart Ltd and Another v The Financial Times Ltd QBD 16-Dec-2005
The claimants sought disclosure of documents in their claim for damages for defamation against the respondent. The defendants said that the documents sought, namely reporter’s notes were not relevant to the defamation alleged. There was a request . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation, Damages

Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.218725

Brown v Colt Technology Services Ltd: EAT 4 Jun 2018

DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION – Compensation
The Claimant, who continues to be employed by the Respondent, succeeded in certain claims of harassment and discrimination and in relation to certain failures to make reasonable adjustments. The decision of the Tribunal following a remedies hearing was appealed by the Respondent employer and was also the subject of an appeal and cross-appeal by the Claimant.
On the various issues for determination:
(1) The law on the insurance exception to the principle of deducting avoided loss in the calculation of damages is as set out by the Court of Appeal in Gaca v Pirelli General plc [2004] 1 WLR 2683. There was evidence before the Tribunal that was sufficient to support a conclusion that the Claimant had contributed indirectly to the PHI policy taken out by the employer and the decision to deduct from loss of earnings only 50% of the payments he had received should not be interfered with;
(2) In adding to the Claimant’s award sums representing the redundancy and notice payments the Claimant would have received had he been able to work and subject to redundancy in 2013, the Tribunal had erred by failing to take into account that these were sums that the Claimant has not lost and may still be entitled to. To that extent the Claimant’s condition had resulted in his avoiding the loss for which the Tribunal had sought to compensate him and the appeal would be allowed to the extent of deducting those sums from the overall award;
(3) The Tribunal had erred in finding that the Claimant’s receipt of PHI payments would cease for reasons other than his ability to work, but that finding could be deleted while leaving standing the Tribunal’s general conclusions on his ability to recover and return to work;
(4) The Tribunal had been entitled on the available evidence to reach the conclusions it did on the anticipated period of the Claimant’s recovery, the level of his future earnings and to take account of the risk of relapse as part of the exercise of making a broad estimate in relation to those matters; but
(5) The Tribunal had erred in approaching apportionment by reference to the division of events into those caused by the Respondent’s discriminatory acts and those that were not so caused rather than by looking at the Claimant’s condition and assessing whether it was divisible and if so how much of the harm suffered had been caused by the Respondent’s discriminatory acts. The correct approach having been confirmed by the Court of Appeal in BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd v Konczak [2017] EWCA Civ 1188, the matter would be remitted back to the Tribunal for assessment of the issue of apportionment using the correct approach.
Appeal and cross-appeal both allowed in part.

Judges:

Wise L

Citations:

[2018] UKEAT 0023 – 17 – 0406

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Discrimination, Damages

Updated: 22 April 2022; Ref: scu.616895

EB v Haughton: QBD 17 Feb 2011

The claimant alleged sexual assualt on her by the defendant when she was a child.

Judges:

Slade DBE J

Citations:

[2011] EWHC 279 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – RAR v GGC QBD 10-Aug-2012
The claimant alleged that the defendant, her stepfather, had sexually and otherwise assaulted her when she was a child. He had pleaded guilty to one charge in 1978, and now said that the claim was out of time. The claimant sought the extension of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Damages

Updated: 22 April 2022; Ref: scu.429641

Roberts v Johnstone: CA 1989

The measure of damages in respect of additional housing costs necessitated by a plaintiff’s injuries is the additional cost over his lifetime of providing that accommodation. As regards the discount to be applied for the immediate receipt of funds to represent future losses, the court adopted the figure of two per cent because ‘a tax-free yield of two per cent in risk free investment would not be a wholly unacceptable one.’

Judges:

Stocker LJ

Citations:

[1989] 1 QB 878

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – B and B v A County Council CA 21-Nov-2006
The claimants sought damages from the defendant local authority after their identities had been wrongfully revealed to the natural parents of the adoptees leading to a claimed campaign of harassment. The adopters has specifically requested that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury

Updated: 20 April 2022; Ref: scu.246343

Lunt v Liverpool City Justices: CA 5 Mar 1991

A man of good reputation had been imprisoned for forty two days wholly unjustifiably for alleged default in payment of rates. He sought damages.
Held: The Court increased the award from andpound;13,500.00 to andpound;25,000.00. Commenting on Walter -v- Alltools: ‘I do not for my part doubt that that is a correct principle of law . .[counsel for the claimant] is, in my judgment, entitled to submit that any form of imprisonment gives rise to a stigma and that stigma is not removed until the reputation of the imprisoned party is vindicated in an appropriate manner.’

Judges:

Bingham LJ

Citations:

Unreported, 5th March 1991

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Disapproved – Walter v Alltools 1944
The court considered damages to be awarded for false imprisonment: ‘ . . any evidence which tends to aggravate or mitigate the damage to a man’s reputation which flows naturally from his imprisonment must be admissible up to the moment when damages . .

Cited by:

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 – AT and others v Dulghieru and Another QBD 19-Feb-2009
The claimants had been subject to unlawful human trafficking. Their abductors had been imprisoned, and they now sought damages. The court was asked now to assess the damages to be awarded for sexual enslavement. Each claimant suffered chronic post . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Torts – Other

Updated: 20 April 2022; Ref: scu.199753

Cullinane v British “Rema” Manufacturing Co Ltd: CA 1954

The court considered the possibility of a claim in breach of contract for damages for both capital loss and loss of profit.
Lord Evershed MR said: ‘It seems to me, as a matter of principle, that the full claim of damages in the form in which it is pleaded was not sustainable, in so far as the plaintiff sought to recover both the whole of his original capital loss and also the whole of the profit which he could have made. I think that that is really a self-evident proposition, because a claim for loss of profits could only be founded upon the footing that the capital expenditure had been incurred.’ and
‘In the present case it is plain that to the knowledge of the defendants this machine was required to perform a particular function, and the warranty given shows what the function was that the machine was designed to perform. There is, therefore, no doubt at all that the plaintiff is entitled to rely on [the second limb of the rule in Hadley v Baxendale], and to claim as damages the business loss which must reasonably be supposed to have been, in the contemplation of both parties at the time when they made the contract, the probable result of the breach. In other words, this plaintiff is not confined to the loss which might be called the natural result of having a machine which turned out to be less that the purchase he has paid for it.’

Judges:

Lord Evershed MR, Jenkins LJ

Citations:

[1954] 1 QB 292

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Watford Electronics Ltd v Sanderson CFL Ltd CA 23-Feb-2001
The plaintiff had contracted to purchase software from the respondent. The system failed to perform, and the defendant sought to rely upon its exclusion and limitation of liability clauses.
Held: It is for the party claiming that a contract . .
Cited – Astea (UK) Ltd v Time Group Ltd TCC 9-Apr-2003
The question of whether a reasonable time has been exceeded in performance of a contract is ‘a broad consideration, with the benefit of hindsight, and viewed from the time at which one party contends that a reasonable time for performance has been . .
Cited – Anglia Television v Oliver Reed CA 1971
The television company had agreed with the actor defendant for him to appear in a production. He breached the contract. The company sought both loss of profits and for the expense incurred. The issue before the Court of Appeal was whether such . .
Cited – Anglo Group Plc, Winther Brown and Co Ltd v Winter Brown and Co Ltd, BML (Office Computers) Ltd, Anglo Group Plc, BML (Office Computers) Ltd TCC 8-Mar-2000
Contract – Contract for provision of computer services – purchaser contract with finance company – duty of co-operation to be implied in computer contracts – practice – responsibilities of expert witnesses generally – whether computer company liable . .
Cited – East v Maurer CA 1991
The plaintiffs had bought a hair dressing salon from the defendant, who continued to trade from another he owned, despite telling the plaintiffs that he intended not to. The plaintiffs lost business to the defendant. They invested to try to make a . .
Cited – Parker and Another v SJ Berwin and Co and Another QBD 17-Dec-2008
The claimants sought damages from their former solicitors. They set out to purchase a football club, expending substantial sums for the purpose, relying on the defendants’ promised provision of service in finding and arranging the funding. They said . .
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 . .
Cited – Bowlay Logging Limited v Domtar Limited 1978
(Canada) The parties contracted for the claimant to cut timber and the defendant to haul it. The plaintiff said that the defendant breached the contract by supplying insufficient trucks to haul the timber away, and claimed as damages his wasted . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Damages

Updated: 20 April 2022; Ref: scu.187202

Times Travel UK Ltd and Another v Pakistan International Airline Corporation: ChD 17 Jul 2018

The court considered, post judgment, directions for the taking of accounts and an application for a variation of the costs order.

Citations:

[2018] EWHC 1820 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Judgment – Times Travel (UK) Ltd Nottingham Travel (UK) Ltd v Pakistan International Airlines Corporation ChD 14-Jun-2017
The claimants alleged undue pressure on them by the defendants to enter into contracts to compromise earlier disputes. . .

Cited by:

See Also – Times Travel (UK) Ltd v Pakistan International Airlines Corporation CA 14-May-2019
This appeal concerns the area of lawful act duress, where a contract results from a threat of a lawful act or omission. Does lawful act duress exist at all and, if so, in what circumstances may it be invoked? . .
See Also – Times Travel UK Ltd and Another v Pakistan Internation Airlines Corporation ChD 11-Aug-2020
. .
See Also – Pakistan International Airline Corporation v Times Travel (UK) Ltd SC 18-Aug-2021
Whether, and if so in what circumstances, a party can set aside a contract on the ground that it was entered into as a result of the other party threatening to do a lawful act. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Costs

Updated: 14 April 2022; Ref: scu.619903

Schenker Ltd v Negocios Europa Ltd 2921: QBD 6 Oct 2017

The claimant seeks to recover monies which it says is due under an invoice pursuant to a contract entered into with the defendant, for the carriage of goods by air in the sum of some $58,000. This is the judgment on the preliminary issue of whether there is a common law rule which provides that there can be no set-off against air freight.

Judges:

Moulder J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 2921 (QB), [2018] 1 WLR 718, [2018] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 271

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Transport, Damages

Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.601094

International Leisure Ltd and Another v First National Trustee Company UK Ltd and Others: ChD 16 Jul 2012

The court was asked as to the ambit and limits of the rule against reflective loss as discussed in Johnson v Gore Wood and Co [2002] 2 AC 1. On this occasion the issue was whether the rule debared a secured creditor of a company who had suffered loss (as the result of breaches of duties owed both to the secured creditor and the company by a defendant) from recovering that loss because the company was also entitled to recover that loss.

Judges:

Bartley Jones QC DHCJ

Citations:

[2012] EWHC 1971 (Ch), [2014] 1 BCLC 128, [2013] 2 WLR 466, [2013] Ch 346, [2012] WLR(D) 208, [2012] BCC 738, [2012] PNLR 34

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Discussed – Johnson v Gore Wood and Co HL 14-Dec-2000
Shareholder May Sue for Additional Personal Losses
A company brought a claim of negligence against its solicitors, and, after that claim was settled, the company’s owner brought a separate claim in respect of the same subject-matter.
Held: It need not be an abuse of the court for a shareholder . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages

Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.463005

Elliot Steam Tug Co Ltd v Shipping Controller: CA 1922

Scrutton LJ said: ‘At common law there is no doubt about the position. In case of a wrong done to a chattel the common law does not recognize a person whose only rights are a contractual right to have the use or services of the chattel for purposes of making profits or gains without possession of or property in the chattel. Such a person cannot claim for injury done to his contractual right.’

Judges:

Scrutton LJ

Citations:

[1922] 1 KB 127

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Candlewood Navigation Corporation Limited v Mitsui OSK Lines Limited and Matsuoka Steamship Co Limited PC 1-Jul-1985
(New South Wales) Two ships had collided, after, without negligence, an anchor on one ship failed. The Supreme Court had found the crew negligent after failing to react appropriately to the loss of the anchor. The company now appealed against the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.514420

Chamberlain v West End of London Railway Co: CExC 1862

The court had found that, after railway works cut off highway access, and, notwithstanding the provision of a deviation road, the value of the claimant’s properties as shops had been ‘greatly diminished’ by the reduction in the number of people passing them.
Held: The court accepted, on the basis of the umpire’s finding, that the claimants’ houses had been depreciated in value ‘because the highway was stopped up, and the easy access which before existed was taken away’.

Judges:

Erle CJ

Citations:

(1862) 2 BandS 617 (Ex Ch)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

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: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.259683

Garnac Grain Co Inc v HMF Faure and Fairclough: PC 1967

The Board was asked what was necessary to establish the raltionship of principal and agent.
Held: In the essence of agency is the element of consent.
Where there is an available market for the goods, the market price is determined as at the contractual date of delivery, unless the buyer should have mitigated by going into the market and entering into a substitute contract at some earlier stage
Lord Pearson said: ‘The relationship of principal and agent can only be established by the consent of the principal and agent. They will be held to have consented if they have agreed to what amounts in law to such a relationship even if they do not recognise it themselves and even if they have professed to disclaim it . . The consent however must be given by each of them either expressly or by words and conduct. Primarily one looks to what they said and did at the time of the alleged creation of the agency. Earlier words and conduct may afford evidence of a course of dealing in existence at that time and may be taken into account more generally as historical background . . ‘

Judges:

Lord Pearson

Citations:

[1967] 2 All ER 353, [1968] AC 1130, [1967] 3 WLR 143

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Branwhite v Worcester Works Finance Ltd HL 1969
A dealer may for some ad hoc purpose be the agent of a finance company. In relation to a purchase of a motor vehicle through a motor dealer, where the prospective purchaser completes an application for hire purchase in the office of the motor . .
Cited – National Trust for Places of Historic Interest v Birden ChD 31-Jul-2009
The parties had entered into an old-form share farm agreement in 1994. The tenant later became a farm business tenant on other land. The claimant sought a share of the Single Payment Scheme calculated with reference to the period in which the . .
Cited – Bunge Sa v Nidera Bv SC 1-Jul-2015
The court considered the effect of the default clause in a standard form of contract which is widely used in the grain trade. On 10 June 2010 the respondents, Nidera BV, whom I shall call ‘the buyers’, entered into a contract with the appellants, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency, Damages

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.269658

Cowper v Laidler: ChD 1903

Buckley J said: ‘The court has affirmed over and over again that the jurisdiction to give damages where it exists is not so to be used as in fact to enable the defendant to purchase from the plaintiff against his will his legal right to the easement.’

Judges:

Buckley J

Citations:

[1903] 2 Ch 337

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – 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 – Midtown Ltd v City of London Real Property Company Ltd ChD 20-Jan-2005
Tenants occupied land next to land which was to be developed after compulsory acquisition. The tenants and the landlords asserted a right of light over the land, and sought an injunction to prevent the development. The developer denied that any . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land, Damages

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.222600

Barry v Ablerex Construction (Midlands) Ltd: QBD 22 Mar 2000

After a delay of delay 5 years, the judge deducted two years interest from the award to reflect the plaintiff’s delay.

Judges:

Latham J

Citations:

Times 30-Mar-2000, [2000] PIQR Q263

Statutes:

Damages Act 1996

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Wells v Wells; Thomas v Brighton Health Authority; etc HL 16-Jul-1998
In each of three cases, the plaintiffs had suffered serious injury. They complained that the court had made a substantial reduction of their damages award for loss of future earnings and the costs of future care.
Held: The appeals succeeded. . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Barry v Ablerex Construction (Midlands) Ltd CA 30-Mar-2001
It was appropriate to reduce the interest discount rate used to calculate damages awards in personal injury cases for future losses, from 3 per cent to 2 per cent. This reflected the general reduction in such interest rates since the Act came into . .
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: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.200640

Bone v Seale: CA 1975

The plaintiffs were the owners and occupiers of two adjoining properties. They claimed damages for nuisance by smell. The judge awarded over 6,000 pounds to each of the plaintiffs. The Court of Appeal reduced the sum to 1,000 pounds.
Held: the right to sue in private nuisance is linked to the correct measure of damages. Damages were awarded on a lump sum basis for loss of amenity over twelve years, there being no evidence of any diminution in market value of either of the two adjoining properties. There might be an analogy with loss of amenity in personal injuries cases. But this was only for the purpose of showing that the sum awarded by the judge was much too high. The damages were assessed per stirpes and not per capita.
Stephenson LJ said: ‘It is difficult to find an analogy to damages for interference with the enjoyment of property. In this case, efforts to prove diminution in the value of the property as a result of this persistent smell over the years failed. The damages awarded by Walton J. were damages simply for loss of amenity from the smells as they affected the plaintiffs living on their property; and of course their enjoyment of their own property was indirectly affected by these smells inasmuch as they affected their visitors and members of their families, such as Lady Goodale. The nearest analogy would seem to be the damages which are awarded almost daily for loss of amenity in personal injury cases; it does seem to me that there is perhaps a closer analogy than at first sight appears between losing the enjoyment of your property as a result of some interference by smell or by noise caused by a next door neighbour, and losing an amenity as a result of a personal injury. Is it possible to equate loss of sense of smell as a result of the negligence of a defendant motor driver with having to put up with positive smells as a result of a nuisance created by a negligent neighbour? There is, as it seems to me, some parallel between the loss of amenity which is caused by personal injury and the loss of amenity which is caused by a nuisance of this kind.’
Pill LJ said: ‘I regard satisfying the test of occupation of property as a home provides a sufficient link with the property to enable the occupier to sue in private nuisance. It is an application in present-day conditions of the essential character of the test as contemplated by Lord Wright. It appears to me, as it did to Dillon L.J., to be right in principle and to avoid inconsistencies, for example between members of a family, which in this context cannot now be justified.’

Judges:

Stephenson, Pill and Scarman L.JJ

Citations:

[1975] 1 WLR 797

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

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 – Dobson and others v Thames Water Utilities Ltd and Another CA 29-Jan-2009
The claimants complained of odours and mosquitoes affecting their properties from the activities of the defendants in the conduct of their adjoining Sewage Treatment plant. The issue was as to the rights of non title holders to damages in nuisance . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Nuisance, Damages

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.195594

Kemp Properties (UK) Ltd v Dentsply Research and Development Corporation: 1991

The measure of damages is the same as for fraudulent misrepresentation i.e. all loss caused by the plaintiff having been induced to enter into the contract.

Judges:

Bingham LJ

Citations:

[1991] 2 EGLR 197

Statutes:

Misrepresentation Act 1967 2(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – William Sindall Plc v Cambridgeshire County Council CA 21-May-1993
Land was bought for development, but the purchaser later discovered a sewage pipe which very substantially limited its development potential. The existence of the pipe had not been disclosed on the sale, being unknown to the seller.
Held: . .
Cited – Smith New Court Securities Ltd v Scrimgeour Vickers HL 21-Nov-1996
The defendant had made misrepresentations, inducing the claimant to enter into share transactions which he would not otherwise have entered into, and which lost money.
Held: A deceitful wrongdoer is properly liable for all actual damage . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Torts – Other

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.185673

Electricity Supply Nominees Limited v The National Magazine Company Limited; The National Magazine Company Limited v Electricity Supply Nominees Limited, Matthew Hall Limited, Otis Plc, Dtz Debenham: TCC 12 Aug 1998

Apportionment of service charges.

Judges:

Judge Hicks QC

Citations:

[1999] 1 EGLR 130

Cited by:

Cited – Regus (UK) Ltd v Epcot Solutions Ltd CA 15-Apr-2008
The appellant had contracted to provide office accomodation to the defendant. The air conditioning did not work and there were other defects. The appellant now challenged a finding of liability and that its contract terms which were said to totally . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Damages

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.136088

Geest plc v Monica Lansiquot: PC 7 Oct 2002

(St. Lucia) The plaintiff claimed damages for personal injuries. The defendant wished to allege that she had failed to mitigate her damages by accepting medical treatment.
Held: If the plaintiff refused treatment, it was for the defendant to show that the refusal was unreasonable. A defendant wishing to make such an assertion must give proper notice of that intention either in the pleadings, or in correspondence.

Judges:

Bingham, Steyn, Hobhouse, Millett, Scott LL

Citations:

Times 16-Oct-2002, [2002] UKPC 48

Links:

PC, Bailii, PC

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Selvanayagam v University of the West Indies PC 14-Feb-1983
(Trinidad and Tobago) Having claimed damages for a personal injury, the plaintiff refused a curative operation. As a diabetic he said he faced additional risks.
Held: A plaintiff who rejects medical advice to undergo treatment must discharge a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.177448

Plant Construction Plc v Clive Adams Associates, JMH Construction Services (2): TCC 31 Mar 2000

The case had been remitted to the court to settle the apportionment of damages in a case of breach of contract, rather than in tort. When assessing levels of contribution causation alone is important but not the entire criteria. In cases where both parties would have had to act with due care and skill to avoid the damage, the question is whether a breach was causative, whether alone or as being one of concurrent causes with the other’s negligence, such that but for the concurrence of those causes the damage would not have occurred.

Judges:

Judge Hicks QC

Citations:

1996 ORB 750

Citing:

Applied – Heskell v Continental Express Ltd 1950
The court discussed how a warranty of authority could arise in an agent: ‘An agent who warrants that he has authority need warrant no more than the bare fact. In the absence of special circumstances, he makes no warranty or representation about how . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Construction

Updated: 11 April 2022; Ref: scu.135952

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.

Citations:

Times 02-Dec-1998

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appealed to – 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 . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – 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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Benefits, Damages

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.90577

Treadaway v Chief Constable of West Midlands: QBD 23 Sep 1994

The torture of a suspect by police justified aggravated and exemplary damages, in this case andpound;50,000. Damages for a serious assault by police are not to be reduced for the character of the plaintiff.

Citations:

Times 25-Oct-1994, Independent 23-Sep-1994

Citing:

See Also – Regina v Director of Public Prosecutions ex parte Treadaway Admn 31-Jul-1997
The applicant had been convicted of a robbery and served a long prison sentence. After release he was awarded damages against some of the police officers for assault. The DPP decided not to proceed against the officers by way of criminal . .

Cited by:

See Also – Regina v Director of Public Prosecutions ex parte Treadaway Admn 31-Jul-1997
The applicant had been convicted of a robbery and served a long prison sentence. After release he was awarded damages against some of the police officers for assault. The DPP decided not to proceed against the officers by way of criminal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Police

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.89982

Rushmer and Another v Countrywide Surveyors (1994) Ltd and Another: TCC 21 Jul 1999

The measure of damages for a negligent survey was either the excess paid, or the diminution of value. The question of the uncertainty of what decisions would have been taken had further surveys been made was of no significance. The wrongly surveyed building, being in this case a main building rather than an outbuilding, damages were also awarded for hire of storage space.

Citations:

Gazette 21-Jul-1999

Citing:

Appealed to – Dickinson (T/a John Dickinson Equipment Finance) v Rushmer (T/a F J Associates) CA 14-Feb-2000
. .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Dickinson (T/a John Dickinson Equipment Finance) v Rushmer (T/a F J Associates) CA 14-Feb-2000
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Damages

Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.88923

Parry v Noth West Surrey Health Authority: QBD 5 Jan 2000

Where judgment was awarded with damages to be assessed, and interim payments were made to the claimant pending the determination of the damages, the interest which would have accrued to the claimant on the payments received was not to be set off against the interest to be awarded later on the assessment and payment of the final award.

Citations:

Times 05-Jan-2000

Damages

Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84594

Nunnerley and Another v Warrington Health Authority and Another: QBD 26 Nov 1999

Where negligent advice lead to the birth of a disabled child who would not otherwise have been conceived, the damages to be awarded could include the costs of educating and otherwise caring for the child beyond the age of eighteen. Such duties did not finish with the end of legal responsibility.

Citations:

Times 26-Nov-1999, Gazette 25-Nov-1999

Citing:

Applied – Allen v Bloomsbury Health Authority 1993
The plaintiff sought damages after a failed sterilisation. She had been apprehensive during the pregnancy that the child might be handicapped, and in the event the child suffered from temper tantrums, a speech defect and slight dyslexia.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Damages, Personal Injury

Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84388

Nitrigin Eirann Teoranta v Inco Alloys Ltd: QBD 22 Jan 1992

Cracking in a pipe which was repaired, was a purely economic loss, and therefore not recoverable. When it subsequently failed causing damage by an explosion from leakage, that was the first recoverable damage and time began to run from that date, and not on the discovery of the original cracks.

Citations:

Gazette 22-Jan-1992, [1992] 1 All ER 854

Limitation, Damages

Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84309

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 it is answered. It is a difficult area of the law. It is not like an issue of primary fact, as when a court has to decide which of two differing recollections of past events is the more reliable. The question requires a forecast to be made about the course of future events. It has to be answered on the basis of the best assessment that can be made on the relevant material available to the court. That includes statistical material. Morison J said: ‘statistics are going to prove a good starting point’ in relation to the question of the length of service, which the applicant has hypothetically lost. Such chances ‘must be assessed sensibly having regard to what happens in real life.’

Judges:

Morison J

Citations:

Independent 15-Sep-1994, Times 02-Aug-1994, [1994] ICR 918

Statutes:

Sex Discrimination Act 1975

Cited by:

Cited – 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 . .
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Discrimination, Damages

Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.83742

Malik and Another v Bank of Credit and Commerce International Sa: Chd 23 Feb 1994

A stigma arising from an association with a notorious employer gave rise to no cause of action.

Citations:

Ind Summary 21-Mar-1994, Times 23-Feb-1994

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

At First Instance – 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 . .
Appeal from – Malik and Another v Bank of Credit and Commerce International Sa CA 17-Mar-1995
No compensation was payable for a stigma of innocent workers having worked for a fraudulent bank. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Damages

Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.83351

Marsh v Frenchay NHS Trust: QBD 13 Mar 2001

The circumstances required to allow a person to withdraw money paid into court. The new rules created a flexibility unavailable under the old rules, and the case law associated with the old pre-Woolfe rules should not now determine how such applications are dealt with.

Citations:

Times 13-Mar-2001

Statutes:

Civil Procedure Rules Part 36

Cited by:

Cited – MRW Technologies v Cecil Holdings 22-Jun-2001
The court heard an appeal against a Master’s order which had given the defendant permission under rule 36.6(5) to withdraw a Part 36 payment.
Held: The same considerations apply to giving permission to withdraw money in court as to refusing . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Damages

Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.83424

Marc Rich and Co Ag and Others v Bishop Rock Marine Co Ltd and Others; The Nicholas H: CA 3 Feb 1994

The duty of care does not vary with the nature of damage, as to whether it is physical or financial. The relationship of the parties is to be taken into account in assessing the extent of damage.
Saville LJ said: ‘the three so-called requirements for a duty of care are not to be treated as wholly separate and distinct requirements but rather as convenient and helpful approaches to the pragmatic question whether a duty should be imposed in any given case. In the end whether the law does impose a duty in any particular circumstances depends upon those circumstances …’

Judges:

Saville LJ

Citations:

Times 23-Feb-1994, Independent 02-Mar-1994, Ind Summary 14-Feb-1994

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Marc Rich and Co Ag and Others v Bishop Rock Marine Co Ltd and Others HL 6-Jul-1995
A surveyor acting on behalf of the classification society had recommended that after repairs specified by him had been carried out a vessel, the Nicholas H, should be allowed to proceed. It was lost at sea.
Held: The marine classification . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Negligence, Damages

Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.83394

Kuwait Airways Corporation v Iraqi Airways Company and Another (No 5): QBD 8 Jun 2000

The test of the forseeability of damages in case involving wrongful interference with goods, should be used instead of asking whether or not the damage was the direct or indirect consequence of the tort. The issue arose from failure to see the real issue was usually whether the case arose from contract or tort. No one formulation can encompass all the issues. Though wrongful interference is a tort of strict liability, the test should be that adopted generally in tort, namely the forseeability of the damage complained of.

Citations:

Times 31-May-2000, Gazette 08-Jun-2000

Damages, Torts – Other

Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.82866

Johnston v W H Brown Construction (Dundee) Ltd: IHCS 7 Jun 2000

The cost of employing an architect to draw up a schedule of defects under a building contract was not recoverable as damages. The rights under this contract required remediation of the defects discovered and listed, and did not envisage other expenses.

Citations:

Times 07-Jun-2000

Citing:

Appeal from – Johnston v W H Brown Construction (Dundee) Ltd OHCS 12-Nov-1999
An employer who had to prepare a schedule of defects in order to pursue a claim against his builder, and incurred both architects and legal costs in the preparation of the schedule was not able to claim such costs as consequential losses under the . .

Cited by:

Cited – Cetelem Sa v Roust Holdings Ltd CA 24-May-2005
The parties were engaged in arbitration proceedings. The claimant had sought and obtained an interim mandatory order intended to prevent the defendant dissipating its assets in anticipation of an adverse ruling. The defendant sought leave to appeal. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Construction

Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.82568

Jenmain Builders and Others v Steed and Steed (A Firm): CA 20 Mar 2000

The defendant firm of solicitors acted on the sale of property, but failed to notify a purchaser that he was in a contract race and that another contract had been sent out. The claimant would have been able to exchange, and to have acquired the property.
Held: The defendants had failed to follow their own professional rules and were liable, even though in this case the damages were minimal in the absence of any proof of loss of profits.
Chadwick LJ said: ‘This was a property with development potential. It is common ground that this property was no longer to be used as a village hall. It would have to be used for some other purpose; and there would have to be some development so that it could be used for that purpose. The question was: for what development could planning permission be obtained and how valuable would the property be on completion of that development? But those are the factors which a properly informed market will take into account in fixing the market value of property. The profit potential of the property is an element to be taken into account in fixing its market value. It is not suggested that there was anything special about this property to the appellants as purchasers. It is not suggested that there were not other developers in the market for property of this nature who could have made a proper assessment of the value of this property. The problem for the appellants in the present case is that they never sought to persuade the judge – and never adduced evidence to establish – that the market value of this property, Dukes Hall, was anything greater than the pounds 67,500 which the Parish Council was seeking. It is for those reasons that the claim for loss of profits is one which the court could not entertain in this case. . . In the present case, there is no evidence that these appellants would not have been able to purchase other property in the market which they could develop profitably with the use of the money which they did not lay out in the purchase of Dukes Hall. There is no evidence that the respondents, insofar as their duty lay in contract, were aware of any special circumstances which made it impossible for the respondents to employ their funds in the ordinary course of their business, or of any circumstances which suggested that this property was being sold at an under-value. Indeed, in the circumstances that they were acting for the vendors, the Parish Council, it would be most unlikely that they would regard the property as being sold at an under- value rather than at market price’.

Judges:

Chadwick LJ

Citations:

Gazette 30-Mar-2000, 2000 BNLR 616

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Joyce v Bowman Law Ltd ChD 18-Feb-2010
The claimant asserted negligence by the defendant licensed conveyancers in not warning him of the effect of an option in the contract. He had been advised that it would allow him to choose to buy additional land, but it was in fact a put option. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Land, Damages

Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.82513

Janciuk v Winerite Ltd: EAT 17 Nov 1997

An employee was not entitled to damages for the failure of his employer to follow disciplinary procedures. The attempt to introduce the idea of loss of a chance into the quantification of a dismissed employee’s damages for breach of contract would be a heresy.
Morison J P said: ‘Some contracts of employment require the employer to follow a disciplinary procedure before notice of dismissal can be given. In other words, the disciplinary procedure acts as a brake on the giving of notice. In such a case, the employer would be acting in breach of contract if he gave notice terminating the contract without first having followed the correct procedure. The measure of loss for that breach is based upon an assessment of the time which, had the procedure been followed, the employee’s employment would have continued. Again, that does not require an analysis of the chances that had the procedures been followed the employee might never have been dismissed. At this stage the court is engaged on a process of quantifying damage suffered by a dismissed employee. The court is concerned to know what would have happened contractually, if instead of unlawfully dismissing the employee the employer had not broken the contract, bearing in mind the Lavarack v Woods principle. For this purpose, the assumption that must be made is that the employer would have dismissed the employee at the first available moment open to him; namely after the procedure had been exhausted. The court is not concerned to inquire whether the employee would have been dismissed had the contract been performed, but rather for how long would the employee have been employed before the employer was contractually entitled to give notice. This is on the assumption that the employer has not been accused of acting in bad faith where other principles might apply. ‘

Judges:

Morison J P

Citations:

Gazette 11-Mar-1998, [1998] IRLR 63

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust QBD 31-Jul-2009
The claimant, a consultant surgeon had been subject to disciplinary proceedings by his employer. They were however conducted in a manner which breached his contract. The GMC had summarily dismissed the same allegations. The claimant now appealed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Damages

Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.82490

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 conduct as a source of aggravation of hurt to feelings. Smith J reviewed the authorities on compensation for non-pecuniary loss and said: ‘(i) Awards for injury to feelings are compensatory. They should be just to both parties. They should compensate fully without punishing the tortfeasor. Feelings of indignation at the tortfeasor’s conduct should not be allowed to inflate the award. (ii) Awards should not be too low, as that would diminish respect for the policy of the anti-discrimination legislation. Society has condemned discrimination and awards must ensure that it is seen to be wrong. On the other hand, awards should be restrained, as excessive awards could, to use the phrase of Sir Thomas Bingham MR, be seen as the way to ‘untaxed riches’. (iii) Awards should bear some broad general similarity to the range of awards in personal injury cases. We do not think that this should be done by reference to any particular type of personal injury award, rather to the whole range of such awards. (iv) In exercising that discretion in assessing a sum, tribunals should remind themselves of the value in everyday life of the sum they have in mind. This may be done by reference to purchasing power or by reference to earnings. (v) Finally, tribunals should bear in mind Sir Thomas Bingham’s reference for the need for public respect for the level of awards made. ‘

Judges:

Smith J

Citations:

Times 31-Dec-1996, [1997] IRLR 162, [1997] ICR 275

Statutes:

Race Relations Act 1976

Citing:

Considered – 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 . .
See Also – HM Prison Services and others v Johnson EAT 19-Feb-1996
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Bennett T/A Foxbar Hotel v Reid EAT 26-Sep-2001
The employer appealed an award of ten thousand pounds for injured feelings, following a finding of sex discrimination. It was said that the award went beyond compensation to punishment. To vary such an award, the EAT must find some error of . .
Cited – D Watt (Shetland) Ltd v Reid EAT 25-Sep-2001
The employer appealed an award of ten thousand pounds including aggravated damages, and other elements after a finding of sex discrimination. They also awarded six hundred pounds in interest. It was asserted that Scots law did not allow for . .
Applied – T G Harris v The Post Office (Royal Mail) EAT 25-Feb-2000
EAT Sex Discrimination – Injury to Feelings
The applicant, a homosexual, was humiliated at work by his fellow employees, and management failed to deal with his complaint. He succeeded in his claim for unfair . .
Cited – 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 . .
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 – 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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Discrimination, Employment, Damages

Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.82557

Harmon CFEM Facade (UK) Ltd (In Voluntary Liquidation) v Corporate Officer of the House of Commons: QBD 15 Nov 2000

If an award of interim damages was properly payable, then it remained payable notwithstanding that the claimant was impecunious, and that in principle the damages might be come repayable where the claimant could have become unable to repay. It was wrong to debar a payment, but the possibility might be allowed for in the proportion of the damages award expected which might be payable as an interim award.

Citations:

Times 15-Nov-2000

Citing:

See Also – Harmon CFEM Facades (UK) Ltd v The Corporate Officer of the House of Commons TCC 29-Jun-2000
The company began a claim for damages for the failure to complete an award of a contract, but then went into voluntary liquidation. The defendant refused payment claiming that it would be used only for payment of the insolvency practitioner’s costs. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages

Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.81246

Frost and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire: QBD 3 Jul 1995

Trained rescuers have to be assumed to have a higher distress threshold because of their training and experience, and if a claim for psychiatric injury is to be made out, they must show some exceptional and particular situation to justify the claim.

Citations:

Times 03-Jul-1995

Cited by:

Appeal from – Frost and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and Others CA 31-Oct-1996
The distinction normally made between primary and secondary victims claiming damages for shock in witnessing a terrible event does not apply to employees who were obliged by their contract to be present. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Personal Injury

Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.80694

Ball v Banner and Others; Neill Clark (A Firm) v Healey and Baker (A Firm): ChD 23 Mar 2000

A valuer had described expected values for an property proposed as an investment promoted by a co-defendant. The valuation and prediction as to how long it might take to have it let had contributed to the representations leading to the investments being made and the assessments had been made without any effective degree of analysis or care, and the company was responsible to make a contribution of one quarter. The contribution was properly claimed since it was four square with the original claim. The ‘damage in question’ meant the loss suffered by the investors from entering into the transaction. Sections 2 (3) (a) and (b) made it ‘clear that persons may be liable in respect of the same damage without necessarily being liable in the same amounts’.

Judges:

Hart J

Citations:

Gazette 23-Mar-2000, [2000] Lloyd’s Rep PN 569

Statutes:

Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 1 2(3)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

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.

Professional Negligence, Damages

Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.78117

Scandinavian Trading Tanker Co AB v Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana (The Scaptrade): CA 1983

Charterers of a ship sought relief from forfeiture of the charterparty on equitable grounds.
Held: No jurisdiction existed to grant such a relief. In a commercial agreement between commercial parties, the court had no jurisdiction to relieve a party of the consequences of failure to pay or duly to perform some other contractual obligation.
Robert Goff LJ said that ‘It is of the utmost importance in commercial transactions that, if any particular event occurs which may affect the parties’ respective rights under a commercial contract, they should know where they stand. The court should so far as possible desist from placing obstacles in the way of either party ascertaining his legal position, if necessary with the aid of advice from a qualified lawyer, because it may be commercially desirable for action to be taken without delay, action which may be irrevocable and which may have far reaching consequences. It is for this reason, of course, that the English courts have time and again asserted the need for certainty in commercial transactions – for the simple reason that parties to such transactions are entitled to know where they stand, and to act accordingly. In particular, when a ship owner becomes entitled under the terms of his contract, to withdraw a ship from the service of a time charterer, he may well wish to act swiftly and irrevocably. True, his problem may, in a particular case, prove to be capable of solution by entering into a without prejudice agreement with the original time charterer, under which the rate of hire will be made to depend upon a decision, by arbitrators or by a court, whether he was in law entitled to determine the charter. But this is not always possible. He may wish to refix his ship elsewhere as soon as possible, to take advantage of a favourable market. It is no answer to this difficulty that the ship may have cargo aboard at the time, so that her services cannot immediately be made available to another charterer’
Robert Goff LJ continued: ‘For one thing, the ship may not have cargo on board, and for another she can be refixed immediately under a charter to commence at the end of her laden voyage. Nor is it an answer that the parties can immediately apply to arbitrators, or to a court, for a decision, and that both maritime arbitrators and the Commercial Court in this country are prepared to act very quickly at very short notice. For, quite apart from the fact that some delay is inherent in any legal process, if the question to be decided is whether the tribunal is to grant equitable relief, investigation of the relevant circumstances, and the collection of evidence for that purpose, cannot ordinarily be carried out in a very short period of time.’ and ‘The policy which favours certainty in commercial transactions is so antipathetic to the form of equitable intervention invoked by the charterers in the present case that we do not think it would be right to extend the jurisdiction to relieve charterers from the consequences of withdrawal. We consider that the mere existence of such a jurisdiction would constitute an undesirable fetter upon the exercise by parties of their contractual rights under a commercial transaction of this kind. It is not enough to say it will only be exercised in rare cases. For the mere possibility that it may be exercised can produce uncertainty, disputes and litigation, and so prevent parties from knowing where they stand, particularly as the jurisdiction, if available, would be discretionary and there may be doubt whether it could be successfully invoked in any particular case.
For these reasons we hold that we have no equitable jurisdiction to grant equitable relief of the kind asked for by the charterers.’

Judges:

Robert Goff LJ

Citations:

[1983] QB 529

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Affirmed – Scandinavian Trading Tanker Co AB v Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana (The Scaptrade) HL 1983
The House considered giving relief from forfeiture where an owner had justifiably withdrawn his vessel in accordance with the terms of the charter.
Held: A withdrawal clause under a time charter, exercised on the ground of the charterer’s . .
Cited – Golden Strait Corporation v Nippon Yusen Kubishka Kaisha (‘The Golden Victory’) HL 28-Mar-2007
The claimant sought damages for repudiation of a charterparty. The charterpary had been intended to continue until 2005. The charterer repudiated the contract and that repudiation was accepted, but before the arbitrator could set his award, the Iraq . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Contract

Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.252492

Rosenthal v Alderton and Sons Limited: CA 1946

The court was asked as to how it should value goods which had disappeared, and where the plaintiff sought damages for their wrongful detention, either as at the date of the detention or as at the date of the judgment.
Held: Damages for detinue were to be based on the value of the item at the time of the judgment. Lord Evershed MR said in the course of answering: ‘it is further to be noted that the action of detinue was essentially a proprietary action implying property in the plaintiff in the goods claimed’, and then a reference is made to Viner’s Abridgement vol 8 p23 and Holdsworth, History of English Law vol 7, pp 438 and 439. ‘ It was, and still is, of the essence of an action of detinue that the plaintiff maintains and asserts his property in the goods claimed.
I think that the rights of the plaintiff as regards these goods were not such as entitled him to bring an action in detinue against the defendant, in whose possession they were, as agent, as the time, of the person in whom the property in the goods was then vested’.

Judges:

Lord Evershed MR

Citations:

[1946] KB 374

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Iran v The Barakat Galleries Ltd QBD 29-Mar-2007
The claimant government sought the return to it of historical artefacts in the possession of the defendants. The defendant said the claimant could not establish title and that if it could the title under which the claim was made was punitive and not . .
Cited – Carlton Greer v Alstons Engineering Sales and Services Limited PC 19-Jun-2003
PC (Trinidad and Tobago) The claimant had bought an expensiv agriucltural tool (a hoe) from the defendants. It was defective and her returned it repeatedly for repair. Eventually they refused to allow him to test . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Damages

Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.258520

Gomes v Higher Level Care Ltd: CA 13 Mar 2018

‘This appeal raises a short but important question of law as to whether the Employment Tribunal has the power to make an award of compensation for injury to feelings where there has been a breach of the Working Time Regulations 1998’
Held: It did not.

Judges:

Kitchin, Sharp, Singh LJJ

Citations:

[2018] EWCA Civ 418

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Employment, Damages

Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.605866

Hargreaves and others v Barron Industrial Services Ltd: CA 24 Jul 2003

The appellant challenged an order awarding damages to the claimant for the loss of chance of being awarded a contract. There had appeared to be evidence linking an officer of the appellant with corrupt efforts to award the contract elsewhere.
Held: The assessment of damages in such cases must be difficult. Nevertheless, the judge had provided a carefully constructed judgment, and it was above criticism. Appeal dismissed.

Judges:

Lord Justice Brooke Lord Justice Johnathan Parker

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 1038

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Damages

Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.184762

Weaver v Delta Airlines Inc: 30 Jun 1999

(United States District Court, D. Montana, Billings Division.)

Citations:

56 F Supp 2d 1190 (1999)

Links:

Justia

Jurisdiction:

United States

Cited by:

Cited – King v Bristow Helicopters Ltd; Morris v KLM Royal Dutch Airlines HL 28-Feb-2002
Psychiatric Injury under Warsaw Convention
The applicants were passengers who claimed damages for psychiatric injury, after accidents in aircraft.
Held: The Convention created strict liability on air carriers, but explicitly restricted damages to be payable for ‘bodily injury’. That . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Transport, Damages

Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.180854

London Organising Committee of The Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) v Sinfield: QBD 22 Jan 2018

The defendant had applied for the claimant’s claim against it to be sruck out under the 2015 Act, alleging a dishonest claim for expenses. It now appealed from rejection of that claim.
Held: THe appeaL succeeded: ‘The starting point is s 57(3). As I have explained, it follows from this provision that something more is required than the mere loss of damages to which the claimant is entitled to establish substantial injustice. Parliament has provided that the default position is that a fundamentally dishonest claimant should lose his damages in their entirety, even though ex hypothesi, by s 57(1), he is properly entitled to some damages. It would render superfluous s 57(3) if the mere loss of genuine damages could constitute substantial injustice. The judge made no findings capable of supporting a conclusion that if the whole claim was dismissed it would result in substantial injustice to Mr Sinfield Furthermore, the judge was wrong to characterise the gardening claim as peripheral. As I have explained, as originally presented, it was a very substantial part of the claim.’
‘Given the infinite variety of circumstances which might arise, I prefer not to try and be prescriptive as to what sort of facts might satisfy the test of substantial injustice. However, it seems to me plain that substantial injustice must mean more than the mere fact that the claimant will lose his damages for those heads of claim that are not tainted with dishonesty. That must be so because of s 57(3). Parliament plainly intended that sub-section to be punitive and to operate as a deterrent. It was enacted so that claimants who are tempted to dishonestly exaggerate their claims know that if they do, and they are discovered, the default position is that they will lose their entire damages. It seems to me that it would effectively neuter the effect of s 57(3) if dishonest claimants were able to retain their ‘honest’ damages by pleading substantial injustice on the basis of the loss of those damages per se. What will generally be required is some substantial injustice arising as a consequence of the loss of those damages’

Judges:

Jukian Knowles J

Citations:

[2018] EWHC 51 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 57

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 03 April 2022; Ref: scu.603727

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 premises. This had been done with the necessary licence from the local authority.
Held: Works undertaken under such a licence (appropriate to the local authority) could not be complained of as a public nuisance or as illegal, unless and to the extent that the work exceeded the licence in extent or time.
Lord Hanworth MR said that the claimant must establish: ‘(a) a particular injury to himself beyond that which is suffered by the rest of the public; (b) that the injury is directly and immediately the consequence of the wrongful act; (c) that the injury is of a substantial character, not fleeting or evanescent.’
Lawrence LJ said: ‘A temporary obstruction of the highway may or may not constitute a public nuisance according to the circumstances. As a general rule such an obstruction is wrongful and constitutes a public nuisance, unless it is negligible in point of time or authorised by Parliament or occasioned in the reasonable and lawful user of the highway as a highway.’ The decision was to follow the statute to impose liability.

Judges:

Romer LJ, Lord Hanworth MR, Lawrence LJ

Citations:

[1933] Ch 298, [1932] All ER 59, 102 LJ Ch 6, 148 LT 303, 96 JP 525, 76 Sol 849, 31 LGR 18

Statutes:

Metropolis Management Act 1855 122

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 – 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 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 – 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 . .
Cited – Trevetts v Lee CA 1955
Lord Evershed MR said: ‘The law as regards obstruction to highways is conveniently stated in a passage in Salmond on Torts, 13th edition: ‘A nuisance to a highway consists either in obstructing it or in rendering it dangerous’. Then a numbed of . .
Cited – Dwyer v Mansfield 1946
The plaintiff shopkeepers complained of obstructions caused by customers queuing outside the defendant’s vegetable shop. He was selling rationed vegetables in the quantities licensed. The judge had found that neither nuisance, nor damage had been . .
Cited – Almeroth v WE Chivers and Son Ltd CA 1948
The plaintiff peddler had his barrow by one kerb. He crossed the road to serve a customer, but on return when crossing the kerb from a roadway tripped over a small pile of slates and was injured. The slates did not overlap the kerb. They had been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Nuisance, Damages

Updated: 03 April 2022; Ref: scu.201635

Regina v Criminal Injuries Compensation Board ex parte Kavanagh and others: Admn 30 Jul 1998

The fact that the care received by a child, whose mother had been murdered, was equivalent to the care received from the mother should be disregarded when calculating loss of mother’s care.

Citations:

Times 25-Aug-1998, Gazette 16-Sep-1998, [1998] EWHC Admin 801

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Distinguished – Hayden v Hayden CA 1992
The claimant’s mother died in a car accident caused by the father. The father then took over the mother’s role in caring for the claimant.
Held: Those services, and compensation awarded to provide for them, were not a benefit accruing as a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Damages

Updated: 31 March 2022; Ref: scu.138922

Glasspool v London Borough of Southwark: UTLC 12 Oct 2017

COMPENSATION – compulsory purchase – acquisition of maisonette on blighted estate – choice of comparables to assess open market value – valuation methodology – adjustments – disturbance – Crawley costs where no alternative property yet acquired – compensation determined at pounds 322,070

Citations:

[2017] UKUT 373 (LC)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Land, Damages

Updated: 31 March 2022; Ref: scu.597399