The claimant made a claim for misfeasance in public office. The defendant argued that such a claim required proof of special damage. The claimant said that the deprivation of liberty amounted to such damage. Whilst serving a prison sentence the police had advised the prison service to move him from an open prison to secure conditions at first for his own safety, and then on other grounds. He said that the informatin was given in bad faith.
Held: The court assumed at this stage that the basis of the claim was true. Loss or damage was an essential ingredient of the tort of misfeasance. A person who was unlawfully detained as a result of false imprisonment was entitled to general damages. It did not seem correct in principle to distinguish between what was injury or damage for the purposes of false imprisonment on the one hand and misfeasance on the other. Loss of liberty should be relevant injury or damage in both cases or neither, and the Thompson guidelines applied in either case. The loss of the freedom he would have enjoyed as a category D prisoner was a sufficient loss.
Judges:
Sir Anthony Clarke MR, Lord Justice Scott Baker and Lord Justice Thomas
Citations:
[2006] EWCA Civ 1691, Times 26-Dec-2006, [2007] 1 WLR 1881
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Thompson v Commissioner of Police of Metropolis; Hsu v Same CA 20-Feb-1997
CS Damages of 200,000 pounds by way of exemplary damages had been awarded against the police for unlawful arrest and assault.
Held: The court gave a guideline maximum pounds 50,000 award against police for . .
Cited – Brasyer v Maclean PC 1875
(New South Wales) A false return was made by a sheriff which led to the arrest of the plaintiff and his attachment for 24 hours. The court had non-suited the plaintiff since no malice had been shown.
Held: The appeal succeeded. It was . .
Cited – Watkins v Home Office and others HL 29-Mar-2006
The claimant complained of misfeasance in public office by the prisons for having opened and read protected correspondence whilst he was in prison. The respondent argued that he had suffered no loss. The judge had found that bad faith was . .
Cited by:
Cited – Prison Officers Association v Iqbal CA 4-Dec-2009
The claimant, a prisoner, alleged false imprisonment. The prison officers had taken unlawful strike action leaving him to be confined within his cell and unable to be involved in his normal activities. In view of the strike, a governor’s order had . .
Cited – Houchin v Lincolnshire Probation Trust QBD 9-Apr-2013
The defendant sought to have the claim struck out. The prisoner said that the defendant’s probation officer had through misfeasance in public office arranged for his transfer back to secure conditions from open ones. The parole board panel had found . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons, Torts – Other
Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.246970