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These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.  














Damages - From: 1990 To: 1990

This page lists 22 cases, and was prepared on 27 May 2018.

 
Davidson v Upper Clyde Shipbuilders 1990 SLT 329
1990

Lord Milligan
Damages
The pursuer could make no claim for loss of pension rights for the period after which she would have become entitled to a widow's pension in her own right after her husband's death.
1 Citers


 
Slipper v British Broadcasting Corporation [1991] 1 QB 283; [1990] 3 WLR 967
1990
CA
Bingham LJ
Defamation, Damages
The plaintiff, a retired policeman was featured in a film about the Great Train Robbery. He sought to say that paper reviews of the film, and trailers worked to spread the libel, and should count in the assessment of damages against the defendant, who in turn sought to have that leading struck out. Held: Whether reviews and trailers should affect the damages was a matter of fact and for the jury alone. It was not appropriate to strike it out. The plaintiff would be in a position to prove at trial that the passages from the reviews repeated the defamatory sting of the film, and that the defendant could have reasonably foreseen that they would.
Bingham LJ said: "The law would part company with the realities of life if it held that the damage caused by publication of a libel began and ended with publication to the original publishee. Defamatory statements are objectionable not least because of their propensity to percolate through underground channels and contaminate hidden springs."
1 Cites

1 Citers



 
 Hunt v R M Douglas (Roofing) Ltd; HL 1990 - [1990] 1 AC 398
 
Bank of Nova Scotia v Hellenic Mutual War Risks Association (Bermuda) Ltd (The Good Luck) [1990] 1 QB 818
1990
CA
May, Ralph Gibson and Bingham LJJ
Contract, Damages
When a contract is to be construed purposively, the court must look to the purposes of both parties, not just one of them. No apportionment was to be applied under the 1945 Act: "Similarly, we think that the facts and circumstances of the present case are such that it can and should be easily distinguished from those in [the Tennant case]. We merely add respectfully our view that the scope and extent of this last mentioned case would have to be a matter of substantial argument if the principle there applied were to arise for consideration in another case."
Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
Naughton v O'Callaghan [1990] 3 All ER 191; [1991] CLY 1319
1990

Waller J
Torts - Other, Damages
In 1981 the plaintiffs had bought a thoroughbred yearling colt called 'Fondu' for 26,000 guineas. In fact a mistake had been made and its pedigree was not as represented. Its true pedigree made it suitable only for dirt track racing in the United States, not for racing in this country. This mistake was not discovered until about two years later by which time the colt had been raced unsuccessfully in the UK and its value had as a result fallen to £1,500; substantial training fees had also been wasted. The defendants did not dispute that there had been a negligent misrepresentation. The issue was damages. The defendants said that the actual value of the colt at the time of its purchase was 23,500 guineas and that the plaintiff's damages should be limited to the difference, 2,500 guineas: the 'diminution in value' test. Held: The ourt assessed the plaintiffs' losses, including consequential losses, as at the date of their discovery of the misrepresentation.
Waller J said: "Where an article purchased as the result of a misrepresentation could have been sold immediately after the sale for the price paid but by the time the misrepresentation was discovered its value had fallen by reason of a defect in it which had by then become apparent the appropriate measure of damages could be the difference between the purchase price and its value at the time the misrepresentation was discovered and not the difference between the purchase price and its actual value at the time of purchase provided that the article purchased was altogether different from that which had been expected."
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
Merlin v British Nuclear Fuels plc [1990] 2 QB 557; [1991] CLY 2662; [1990] 3 WLR 383
1990

Gatehouse J
Damages, Utilities
The plaintiffs claimed that their house had been damaged by radioactive material that had been discharged into the Irish Sea from Sellafield which had subsequently become deposited in their house as dust. Held: The l965 Act required them to established that there had been damage to property, meaning tangible property. He went on to reject the plaintiffs' claim that the house included the air space within the walls, ceilings and floors and that it had been damaged by the presence of radioactive material which had resulted in the house being rendered less valuable. All that had happened was that the house had been contaminated and that did not amount to damage to property which was the type of damage for which the Act provided compensation. The fact that the house was less valuable was the economic result of the presence of radioactive material, not the result of damage to the house from the radioactive properties of the material.
Nuclear Installations Act 1965 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 Citers



 
 Shearson Lehman Hutton v Maclaine Watson (No 2); 1990 - [1990] 3 All ER 723
 
Hayes v Dodd [1990] 2 All ER 815
1990
CA
Staughton LJ
Damages

1 Citers


 
Farmer Giles Ltd v Wessex Water Authority and another [1990] 1 EGLR 177
1990

Lord Justice Russell
Damages
The court looked at the measure of damages in relation to damage to land: "The award, particularly when contrasted with the cost of full reinstatement, in my judgment, also passes the test of reasonableness. I add that test of reasonableness because the authorities to which we have been referred indicate that reasonableness always has to be taken into account. The judge must stand back, when he has done his arithmetic, and ask himself whether the figure achieved by his findings is fair both to the plaintiff and to the defendants."
1 Citers


 
Gatewhite v Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA [1990] 1 QB 326
1990

Gatehouse J
Damages, Contract, Damages
In a contract for the carriage of goods by air, the court considered whether the owner of goods who had not been named as the consignor or consignee on the air waybill was entitled to sue the carrier for damages to the goods while in transit. Held: In the absence of express provision in the Convention excluding the owner's right of action, the owner of goods damaged or lost by a carrier was entitled to sue in his own name in accordance with the lex fori and accordingly that the plaintiffs were entitled to damages to be assessed at common law.
1 Citers


 
Gatewhite v Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA [1990] 1 QB 326
1990

Gatehouse J
Damages, Contract, Damages
In a contract for the carriage of goods by air, the court considered whether the owner of goods who had not been named as the consignor or consignee on the air waybill was entitled to sue the carrier for damages to the goods while in transit. Held: In the absence of express provision in the Convention excluding the owner's right of action, the owner of goods damaged or lost by a carrier was entitled to sue in his own name in accordance with the lex fori and accordingly that the plaintiffs were entitled to damages to be assessed at common law.
1 Citers


 
Dominion Mosaics Limited v Trafalgar Trucking Co Limited [1990] 2 All ER 246
1990
CA
Taylor LJ, Stocker LJ
Damages, Negligence
The claimant’s building was destroyed by fire as a result of the defendant’s negligence. It was impracticable to rebuild and so, to keep its business going the claimant bought a 36 year lease of another building with 20% more floor space. In the fire the claimant had lost some carpet-holding machines which it had bought, almost new, for a bargain £13,500, but which would cost £65,000 to replace. It did not replace the machines, but claimed £65,000. Held: It was entitled to succeed on both claims. Should the replacement cost be more than the market value, that cost is still recoverable if it is reasonable to replace. It is not relevant that the replacement cost should exceed the amount for which the purchaser acquired the goods
Taylor LJ: As to the cost of the lease: "Although the ground area was somewhat greater at Waterden Road than their original premises, I consider that it falls within the sort of betterment for which no reduction should be made. It is not as case, as this court instanced in the Harbutt’s Plasticine case, of a rebuilding deliberately incorporating enlargement, improvement or added facilities."
As to the machines, the CA increased the damages from £13,500 to £65,000: “Counsel’s arguments both before the judge and before us were based solely on the alternative awards of £13,500 or £65,000. No intermediate was canvassed. It was not suggested by the appellants, either in evidence or by submission, that there was any second-hand source of paternoster machines. The respondent’s evidence was that no such source existed to his knowledge. Where this is the case and the only way the owner of destroyed chattels can replace them is by buying new ones, the measure of damages is the cost of doing that, unless the result would be absurd . . Had it been argued that in fairness to the appellants some discount from the £65,000 should have been allowed to reflect the depreciation of the machines in their few months of service, the point would have merited consideration. But no such submission was made nor was there any evidence on which to base an assessment of an appropriate discount. In these circumstances I consider that, of the two alternatives contended for, £65,000 was the proper sum.”
Stocker LJ: “The cases cited seem to me clearly to point the distinction between a situation in which the proper and reasonable compensation for the plaintiff is diminution of the value of the building destroyed as damages on the one hand or reinstatement on the other, a distinction which, in most cases, will depend on whether or not the building destroyed is a profit-making asset. Since in almost any other case if the plaintiff recovers as damages the diminution in value he will have been restored to his original position, reinstatement, or its equivalent, is only appropriate where such is the only reasonable method of compensating a plaintiff for future loss of profits derived from the asset destroyed.”
1 Citers


 
Syrett v Carr and Neave [1990] 2 EGLR 161
1990


Damages
The plaintiff sought damages for a negligent survey. Held: On the particular facts, it was reasonable for the plaintiffs not to sell but to repair the property and seek the cost of such repairs.
1 Citers


 
Regina v Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, ex parte Maguire (1992) 90 LGR 653
1990

Schiemann J
Damages, Administrative
Schiemann J said: 'we do not have in our law a general right to damages for maladministration.'
1 Citers


 
James Cook and Co (Wivenhoe) Ltd v Tipper [1990] ICR 716; [1990] IRLR 386
1990
CA
Neill LJ, Farquharson LJ, Sir Roger Ormrod
Employment, Damages
A number of shipyard workers were dismissed by their employers but believed credibly that there was a realistic prospect that they might be re-employed. Only later did it come to their knowledge that the shipyard at which they worked was to close down. The employer appealed a decision allowing the claims to go ahead out of time. Only then did they present their complaints to an Industrial Tribunal. Held: It had not been reasonably practicable for the claimants to complain of unfair dismissal until the closure of the business (which occurred after the three-month time limit has passed) but it was reasonable for the claims to have been brought within 2 weeks of the date of closure. The fact that the company closed shortly after making redundancies may properly allow the capping of the compensatory award for unfair dismissal for redundancy on that first round.
Neill LJ said: "As has been emphasised in the authorities, the expression "reasonably practicable" must be looked at in a common sense way."
1 Citers


 
Hussey v Eels [1990] 2 QB 227
1990
CA
Mustill LJ
Damages
The purchasers of a property for a price of £53,250 had relied on a negligent misrepresentation that the property had not been the subject of subsidence. In fact it had. The cost of the required works was £17,000, which they could not afford. Two and a half years later, they obtained planning permission to knock the property down and build two new properties: they then sold all the land, with the benefit of the planning permission, to developers for £78,500 and moved out. Held: They had been under no duty to mitigate by obtaining planning permission, selling and moving. Accordingly the "profits" made on the resale accrued to their own benefit and were not, as a matter of reality, caused by the original negligence. It was not "part of a continuous transaction of which the purchase of land and bungalow was the inception"
1 Citers



 
 McCamley v Cammell Laird Shipbuilders Limited; CA 1990 - [1990] 1 WLR 963

 
 Murphy v Brentwood District Council; HL 26-Jul-1990 - [1991] 1 AC 398; Times, 27 July 1990; [1990] 2 All ER 908; [1991] UKHL 2
 
Alcock and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1991] 2 WLR 814; [1991] CLY 2671
31 Jul 1990
QBD
Mr Justice Hidden
Damages, Personal Injury, Negligence, Police
Overcrowding at a football match lead to the deaths of 95 people. The defendant's employees had charge of safety at the match, and admitted negligence vis-a-vis those who had died and been injured. The plaintiffs sought damages, some of them for personal injuries by way of nervous shock, having seen the match on television, and knowing that their relatives were in the crowd. Held: It was reasonably foreseeable that close family members of the deceased who saw the events on television would suffer nervous shock, as also would those themselves involved as rescuers. Others who were not physically present, or who were not close family members should not recover.
1 Cites

1 Citers

[ lip ]
 
E v Norway 11701/85; (1994) 17 EHRR 30; [1990] ECHR 17
29 Aug 1990
ECHR

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

[ Bailii ] - [ Bailii ]
 
Linden Gardens Trust Ltd v Lenesta Sludge Disposals Ltd and Others (1992) 57 BLR 57
9 Oct 1990
CA
Nourse and Staughton LJJ and Sir Michael Kerr
Damages, Landlord and Tenant
The claimants had taken an assignment of leasehold premises. They sought to recover for building defects. Held: The assignment was effective to transfer to Linden Gardens the causes of action for subsisting breaches of contract by M & H and Ashwell Construction and that the assignee could recover such damages as Stock Conversion could have recovered had there been no assignment.
1 Citers



 
 Koendjbiharie v The Netherlands; ECHR 25-Oct-1990 - 11487/85; [1990] ECHR 28; (1991) 13 EHRR 820
 
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