After a road accident the plaintiff hired a car. His insurance brokers provided the car under an arrangement that was alleged to be illegal insurance business and would have prevented them from being subrogated to the plaintiff’s claim for damages in respect of the loss of the use of his car.
Held: Applying Donnelly, the relationship between the plaintiff and his insurance company was irrelevant: ‘It is admitted by the defendant that the plaintiff had a need for a replacement car. Lords Insurance Brokers Ltd. satisfied that need. It is accepted that the charge of pounds 328 was a reasonable charge having regard to all the circumstances. On the authority of Donnelly’s case that need had to be paid for by the defendant as the wrongdoer.’
Judges:
Lawton LJ
Citations:
[1984] RTR 99
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Applied – Donnelly v Joyce CA 18-May-1973
A six year old injured his leg in a road accident, and needed daily attention. His mother gave up her job to look after him. The claim for damages on behalf of he boy included the mother’s loss of earnings. This was objected to on the grounds that . .
Cited by:
Cited – Dimond v Lovell HL 12-May-2000
A claimant sought as part of her damages for the cost of hiring a care whilst her own was off the road after an accident caused by the defendant. She agreed with a hire company to hire a car, but payment was delayed until the claim was settled.
Cited – Giles v Thompson, Devlin v Baslington (Conjoined Appeals) HL 1-Jun-1993
Car hire companies who pursued actions in motorists’ names to recover the costs of hiring a replacement vehicle after an accident, from negligent drivers, were not acting in a champertous and unlawful manner. Lord Mustill said: ‘there exists in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Damages
Updated: 25 November 2022; Ref: scu.195964