Damages Flashcards
Payzu v Saunders [1919] Facts
• P agreed to buy some goods from D for 9 months
• Payment to be made within 1 months of every delivery
• First delivery payment was late
• D refused to carry on
• This was a breach
• D said will continue if pays cash
• P refused this, claimed for damages
• Held:
• D did breach
• But P had ability to mitigate the loss
o Could have paid in cash
• Because he didn’t do that, not entitled for damages of breach
• Have obligation to mitigate losses
Payzu v Saunders [1919] Principle
Mitigation
C must take all reasonable steps to minimize his loss (but no more than reasonable steps)
Have obligation to mitigate losses
Because he didn’t do that, not entitled for damages of breach
(Czarnikow Ltd v Koufos) The Heron II [1969] Facts
- sale of sugar
- ship was 9 days late
- ship made deviation from routes
- deviations were breaches of contract
- during delay, market price of sugar fell
- K tried to get damages for the price of sugar would have been
- Were loss of profits damages?
- Held:
- Yes
- It was foreseeable that the price of sugar was fluctuate
- Must have been aware of the possibility
- Does not need to be likely, simply reasonably foreseeable
(Czarnikow Ltd v Koufos) The Heron II [1969] Principle
Remoteness
- Must have been aware of the possibility
- Does not need to be likely, simply reasonably foreseeable
Hadley v Baxendale Test
First limb:
D liable for losses which arise “naturally, according to the usual course of things, from the breach of contract”
Anglia TV v Reed [1972] Facts
• A incurred expectation in preparing for filing a play
• Expenses incurring before and after entering contract with R
• R dropped out and they could not get a replacement
• A sued for expenses of production £2700
• Held:
o They could recover all of that
o Even costs incurred before R signed the contract
o R should have known that they would spend money of the production
Anglia TV v Reed [1972] Principle
Recovery of pre‐contract spending
reliance loss
Even costs incurred before R signed the contract
o R should have known that they would spend money of the production
Parsons v Uttley Ingham [1978] Facts
• U allowed pig food to get moldy because of bad ventilation
• Pigs died
• P argued they are liable for loss of pigs
• Held:
• Not too remote
• Naturally occurring result
• Lord Denning
o If loss ought to have been contemplated, not too remote
o Was foreseeable that if food went bad, they would die
• If loss itself is foreseeable, it is allowed o Death of the pigs was a natural result of feeding them mouldy food, under Hadley v Baxendale.
Parsons v Uttley Ingham [1978] Principle
• Remoteness- Application
Hadley v. Baxendale Test
Ruxley Electronics and Construction Ltd v Forsyth [1995] Facts
- F built a swimming pool for R
- Was not deep enough
- Still safe
- To rebuild would of cost lots of money
- How much damages should be payable?
- Full amount of taking out swimming pool and replacing it?
- No
- Held:
- Damages for loss of amenity
- Looked at the economic reality of the situation
Ruxley Electronics and Construction Ltd v Forsyth [1995] Principle
• Expectation Damages
Looked at the economic reality of the situation
Hadley v Baxendale 2 Limb Test?
Remoteness
2 Limb Test:
First limb:
D liable for losses which arise “naturally, according to the usual course of things, from the breach of contract” (i.e. there must have been a serious possibility that the loss would occur if D breached the contract (The Heron II))
Second limb:
D also liable for losses “that may reasonably be supposed to have been in the contemplation of both parties, at the time they made the contract, as the probable result of the breach of it” (liability for these very dependent on how much each party knows about the other’s reasons for entering into the contract, the background, how each wants to use what the other provides, how it fits into the other’s larger plans, etc.)
- Must meet 1 of the 2
- Must be first thing to look at when considering damages
- Even before looking at expectation or reliance interest
Jackson v Horizon Holidays [1975] Facts
• J went on holid ay to Sri Lanka • Paid £1200 • When they got there, it was bad • Held: o Denning • Lots of disappointing things about it • Ex: mold, etc.. o J was able to recover for the distress and disappointment for the whole family
Jackson v Horizon Holidays [1975] Principle
Holiday Claims
Exception that you can recover damages for disappointment and discomfort
o Denning
• Lots of disappointing things about it
• Ex: mold, etc..
o J was able to recover for the distress and disappointment for the whole family
Jarvis v Swan Tours [1973] Facts
• J was a solicitor
• Went to holiday in Switzerland
• Got a brochure from S, which made wonderful claims
• House parties, attractions, scenery, etc…
• J booked 15 days
• Found that the house party was not a house party (only 13 people)
• He was all alone
• The skies were only mini skies
• J sued for breach of contract
• Held:
o Lord Denning
• Felt sorry for J
• J can recover difference in value and distress (disappointment)
o J should get more than the difference
o Davies LJ
• Gave a good example
• Ex: gets ticket for show
• Spent money on dinner jackets + everything else involved in the night
Jarvis v Swan Tours [1973] Principle
Holiday Claims
Exception that you can recover damages for disappointment and discomfort
- J can recover difference in value and distress (disappointment)
- Spent money on dinner jackets + everything else involved in the night
Milner v Carnival plc [2010] Facts
• C was trading as kunard (cruise ship)
• M booked a voyage
• Suppose to be 106 days
• Price was supposed to be £59,000
• Brochure said ‘experience of a lifetime’
• Expect high quality product
• They did not get one
• Got off at Hawaii and would go no further
• Held:
o How do we figure out the damages?
o No obvious losses (other than wifes dresses)
o Damages for distress and disappointment were both under £5,000
o Cannot measure distress according to the cost of the holiday
o They are exclusive
Milner v Carnival plc [2010] Principle
Holiday Claims
Exception that you can recover damages for disappointment and discomfort
o Cannot measure distress according to the cost of the holiday
o They are exclusive
Malik v BCCI [1997] Facts
• M was terminated on the ground of dishonesty
• He was only linked to a business that had a reputation of dishonesty
• Their reputation was destroyed because of the termination
• Tried to get damages for damage to reputation
• Held:
o Employer has a duty to maintain trust and confidence
o If violates this, could recover damages
o Bank said that they didn’t know the business was corrupt
• Argument Failed
o This provides an exception
• Must be similar to this
• Employers duty to act in this way
• Violation of trust and confidence allows damages
Malik v BCCI [1997] Principle
Injured Feelings
Injury to reputation
Exception
• Violation of trust and confidence allows damages
Johnson v Unisys [2001] Principle
• Can recover for contractual losses unless there is a violation of procedure
Eastwood v Magnox Electric Plc and McCabe v Cornwall CC [2004] Principle
Injured Feelings
Unfair Dismissal
- Looked at how much compensation is payable for unfair dismissal
- Could you get damages at common law for damage to feelings
Dunnachie v Kingston upon Hull City Council [2004] Principle
Injured Feelings
Unfair Dismissal
• You cannot recover for damage for injured feeling (psychiatric)
3 types of damage interests?
1) Expectation Interest
2) Reliance Interest
3) Restitution Interest
1) Expectation Interest
o expectation (that defendant (D) would perform his promise) not fulfilled ‐> damages should put innocent party in as good a position as he would have had if D had performed his promise
• Expectation that D would perform his promise
• Puts injured party in situation where D had performed his promise
2) Reliance Interest
o innocent party has relied to his detriment on D’s promise (entered into contract, incurred expense, etc.) ‐> damages should compensate to extent C has relied to his detriment on D’s promise, i.e. put him in as good a position as he was in before D made his promise
• If relied on promise by breaching promise
• You are put back before you entered into the reliance
3) Restitution Interest
o innocent party wants to deprive D of a gain D made at his expense
• Gains made at the expense of the innocent party
• Ex: royalties
Ruxley Electronics and Construction Ltd v Forsyth [1995] Facts
- F built a swimming pool for R
- Was not deep enough
- Still safe
- To rebuild would of cost lots of money
- How much damages should be payable?
- Full amount of taking out swimming pool and replacing it?
- No
- Held:
- Damages for loss of amenity
- Looked at the economic reality of the situation
Ruxley Electronics and Construction Ltd v Forsyth [1995] Principle
Expectation Interest
• Looked at the economic reality of the situation
Tito v Waddell (No 2) [1977] Facts
- British gov’t granted mining lisince to mine fosfates on ocean island (settlement)
- Management was put in the hand of a trust
- Instruction was tat profits were to be put on trust for previous land owners
- Issues about the meaning of a trust (not important here)
- Right to recover additional royalties (important)
- Whether there was an Obligation on the trust to replant the island after the mining has taken place
- Held:
- It would be uneconomic to replant the island because no one lived there
- Looked at the cost of cure and economic benefits
- No evidence that there was an intention to replant the island
- Paid for actual damage suffered by the mine
- In theory, island would have been planted, in reality it made no sense because no one had the intention to move back
- When assessing damages, must look at actual expectation of the parties, not theoretical
Tito v Waddell (No 2) [1977] Principle
Expectation Interest
- Looked at the cost of cure and economic benefits
- When assessing damages, must look at actual expectation of the parties, not theoretical
Panatown Ltd v Alfred McAlpine Construction Ltd [2000] Facts
- Important for damages
- Looking at exception of the general rule to privity
- Exception that said when goods travelled by sea, the consigner could recover damages from the carrier even if the contract was between the consigner of goods and the carrier
- The consignee did not have a contract with the carrier
- Issue that 3rd party could no recover damages even if he is not part of the contract
- When 3 parties, and contract is between A and B but it was C who suffered the loss, C can recover damages when there was expectation that C would recover the goods once the goods were loaded on the ship
Panatown Ltd v Alfred McAlpine Construction Ltd [2000] Principle
Expectation Interest
• When 3 parties, and contract is between A and B but it was C who suffered the loss, C can recover damages when there was expectation that C would recover the goods once the goods were loaded on the ship
Birse Construction Ltd v Eastern Telegraph Co Ltd [2004] Facts
- residential training college built with defects
- C never actually intended to repair the defects
- Held:
- Cannot recover for damages for losses that you never intended to fix before they were sold
- Expectation damages cannot be recovered