Contract Law -> Damages

Question 1

What are damages?

Answer 1

Damages are a common law remedy awarded to the innocent party if there is a breach of contract. They aim to compensate the innocent party for losses suffered rather than punish the transgressor

Question 2

What are the aims of contractual damages?

Answer 2

To put the injured party in the same position they would have been in had the contract been carried out

To compensate for loss of bargain/profits and expenses

Question 3

Case law for contractual damages

Answer 3

Robinson v Harman

Question 4

What kind of losses aren’t recoverable?

Answer 4

Non-pecuniary (non economic) losses cannot be recovered
C/L: Watts v Morrow

Question 5

Exception for non economic losses

Answer 5

may be awarded where the object of the contact was for pleasure or physical inconvenience flowed from breach of contract
C/L: Jarvis v Swan Tours

Question 6

What are the limitations on the availability of damages

Answer 6

• Causation: Claimant must show a casual link between the losses sustained and breach of contract
• Remoteness: Defendant liable only for losses that arise from the consequences of the breach and which were in the contemplation of the parties at the time of contracting
• Mitigation: Claimant only able to claim for losses which they could have avoided by taking reasonable steps-

Question 7

Case law for causation limitation

Answer 7

C & P Haulage v Middleton

Question 8

Case law for remoteness limitation

Answer 8

Hadley v Baxendale

Question 9

Case law for mitigation limitation

Answer 9

British Westinghouse Co v Underground Electric Railway Co