Regina (on the Application of O’Brien, Hickey, Hickey) v Independent Assessor: QBD 16 Apr 2003

The claimants were to be awarded damages for having been wrongly imprisoned for many years. The respondent was to calculate the award. They complained that he had refused to particularise the award to identify and itemise non-pecuniary loss.
Held: The failure was inconsistent with the duty of transparency. Without such details, the applicants would have insufficient information to judge whether an appeal would be appropriate. The Independent Assessor was to follow the general principles for civil awards of damages, but it could not be seen whether this had been done. If later proceedings followed a judge in such proceedings would be unable to see what award had already been made.

Judges:

The Honourable Mr Justice Maurice Kay

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 855 (Admin), Times 05-May-2003, Gazette 03-Jul-2003

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

CitedThompson 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 by:

CitedO’Brien v Chief Constable of the South Wales Police CA 23-Jul-2003
The claimant sought damages for malicious prosecution, and sought to adduce similar fact evidence. The defendant appealed an order admitting the evidence.
Held: Comparisons between admission of similar fact evidence in civil and criminal . .
Appeal fromIndependent Assessor v O’Brien, Hickey, Hickey CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimants had been imprisoned for many years before their convictions were quashed. They claimed compensation under the Act. The assessor said that there should be deducted from the award the living expenses they would have incurred if they had . .
Appeal fromHickey and others v Independent Assessor CA 25-Feb-2004
Application for leave to appeal on measure of award of compensation for long time spent in prison as a result of miscarriage of justice. . .
At first instanceO’Brien and others v Independent Assessor HL 14-Mar-2007
The claimants had been wrongly imprisoned for a murder they did not commit. The assessor had deducted from their compensation a sum to represent the living costs they would have incurred if living freely. They also appealed differences from a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Prisons

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.181387