The managers had taken on the management of the ship. In the course of a dispute, the managers had the ship arrested whilst in Capetown. The owners had to obtain a bank guarantee to secure its release, and sought the interest payments on the overdaft it had had to incur in order to take out the guarantee. Mustill J had allowed the charge.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The expenditure was damages, not the mitigation of damages. As such it was too remote to have been forseeable. Stuart-Smith LJ said: ‘It is not every consequence of a wrongful act which is the subject of compensation. The law has to draw a line somewhere.’
Judges:
Stuart-Smith LJ
Citations:
[1981] 1 WLR 274, [1981] 1 All ER 856
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Liesbosch Dredger (Owners of) v Owners of SS Edison, The Liesbosch HL 28-Feb-1933
The ship Edison fouled the moorings of the Liesbosch resulting in the total loss of the dredger when it sank. It had been engaged on work in the harbour under contract with the harbour board. All the owners’ liquid resources were engaged in the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Lamb v Camden London Borough Council CA 18-Mar-1981
The plaintiff owned a house. While she was away, the defendant negligently allowed a sewer to break causing substantial damage. Whilst the property was awaiting repair, it was invaded, on two occasions, by squatters who caused further damage. She . .
Cited – Knightley v Johns and others CA 27-Mar-1981
There had been an accident in a tunnel, blocking it. The defendant inspector ordered a traffic constable to ride into the tunnel on his motorcycle against the flow of traffic. The constable crashed and sought damages for negligence against the . .
Cited – Palmer (Administratrix of the Estate of Rose Frances Palmer) v Tees Health Authority and Hartlepool and East Durham NHS Trust CA 2-Jun-1999
A claim for damages on behalf of a murdered child’s estate and the child’s mother for psychiatric damage against a health authority for negligence in having failed to manage a psychiatric outpatient who had abducted and murdered the child, was bound . .
Cited – William John Henry Johnson v Gore Wood and Co CA 3-Dec-2003
. .
Cited – Alcoa Minerals of Jamaica Inc v Herbert Broderick PC 20-Mar-2000
(Jamaica) Damage had been caused to the claimant’s property, but, because of his lack of funds, he was dependent upon the receipt of the damages to carry out the works of repair necessary. By the time the matter came to trial, inflation meant that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Damages
Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.263205