Chapter 7 - Damages Flashcards
When are nominal damages awarded?
When claimant suffers minimum or no loss but a tort has still been committed
When are contemptuous damages awarded?
Where a claimant’s rights have been infringed but their claim is a waste of court time
What is the purpose of damages?
To put the claimant in the position they would have been in had the tort not occurred.
What are special damages?
Quantifiable financial losses a claimant can prove were a consequence of the tort (and before the trial). e.g. transport to a hospital, private medical treatment, loss of earnings, insurance excess etc.
What are general damages?
Damages which cannot be precisely calculated at the date of the trial
How does a court award general damages?
The give a once and for all total to represent the loss sustained including future losses. In personal injury cases this will include future possibility of further pain, suffering and loss of amenity as a result of the injury.
How is future loss of earnings calculated?
Claimant’s annual net income before tort, adjusted to reflect future career prospects (the multiplicand) and multiplier based on age and years expected to earn income if not for the injury.
How is the calculation of future loss of earnings adjusted if the claimant is expected never to work again?
The multiplier will be less than the years they would have left to work as a lump sum could give the opportunity to increase income via investments.
What is claimed if the tort shortens the claimant’s expected life span?
“Lost years”, the award will be based on earnings from the lost years, less living expenses of the lost years.
What is included in an inherited claim by a claimant’s estate under LR (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934?
The estate losses a claimant would have claimed if alive, such as special damages for funeral or nursing home and general for pain, suffering and loss of amenity when alive. It can’t include lost years.
What is a claim by dependents in their own right?
A claim for their financial losses under Fatal Accidents Act 1976.
What can be claimed by a dependent of a deceased claimant?
If the claimant was a spouse, civil partner, or a parent of a child under 18, a bereavement award can be claimed under s1a FAA 1976.
How is a dependency award calculated?
On the multiplier basis, but more specialised: evidence is taken on what earnings would be spent on dependents, it may involve a changing number of dependents, is is based on value judgements (e.g. is child going to uni etc.)
