The parties were neighbours. The claimants succeeded in their assertion of trespass and nuisance in building works carried out by the defendant. The claimant appealed against the judge’s failure to award damages for harassment, saying that though the judge had found harassment, he had made no award saying that the damage was not reasonably forseeable.
Held: The claimant’s appeal succeeded. The 1997 Act created a statutory tort, and: ‘There is nothing in the statutory language to import an additional requirement of foreseeability. Nor is the foreseeability of damage the gist of the tort. Section 1 is concerned with deliberate conduct of a kind which the defendant knows or ought to know will amount to harassment of the claimant. Once that is proved the defendant is responsible in damages for the injury and loss which flow from that conduct. There is nothing in the nature of the cause of action which calls for further qualification in order to give effect to the obvious policy objectives of the statute.’
The defendant succeded also in his appeal against the quantum of damages awarded in lieu of an injunction.
As to costs, no sufficient error had been found in the judge’s decision to allow the appeal court to intervene.
Arden, Aikens, Patten LJJ
[2011] EWCA Civ 804, [2012] 1 All ER 490, [2012] 1 WLR 1495, [2011] CILL 3085
Bailii
Protection from Harassment Act 1997 3
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Majrowski v Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust HL 12-Jul-2006
Employer can be liable for Managers Harassment
The claimant employee sought damages, saying that he had been bullied by his manager and that bullying amounting to harassment under the 1997 Act. The employer now appealed a finding that it was responsible for a tort committed by a manager, saying . .
Cited – Thomas v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 18-Jul-2001
The publication of articles in a newspaper describing how a ‘black clerk’ had complained about the allegedly racist comments of two policemen was said to have caused the claimant to receive racist hate mail.
Held: The court considered the type . .
Cited – Laing Limited v Yassin Essa CA 21-Jan-2004
The claimant had been awarded damages for race discrimination. The employer appealed.
Held: In a claim for damages under the 1976 Act, it was not necessary to show that the damage suffered was reasonably forseeable.
Pill LJ said: ‘I see . .
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 – Whitwham v Westminster Brymbo Coal and Coke Co CA 24-Jun-1896
Common law damages for the misuse of property involved an award of a sum equivalent to the price or hire that a reasonable person would pay for such use, even if the owner would not himself actually have been using the property. This case involved . .
Cited – Wrotham Park Estate Ltd v Parkside Homes Ltd ChD 1974
55 houses had been built by the defendant, knowingly in breach of a restrictive covenant, imposed for the benefit of an estate, and in the face of objections by the claimant.
Held: The restrictive covenant not to develop other than in . .
Cited – Amec Developments Ltd v Jurys Hotel Management (UK) Ltd ChD 17-Nov-2000
The court considered the award of damages after building works by the defendant in breach of a restrictive covenant.
Held: The complexity of the financing and other factors relevant to the calculation of the developer’s profit mean that the . .
Cited – Islam v Ali CA 26-Mar-2003
For a costs appeal to succeed it must be established that the judge has exceeded the limits of his proper discretion by the order made. Auld LJ said that the Court should only intervene: ‘the judge has either erred in principle in his approach, or . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land, Torts – Other, Damages
Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.441586
