Lecture 6 - Damages and loss

Question 1

What are the types of damage?

Answer 1

General damages - financial damages, pain and suffering etc

Special damages - damaged property, lost earnings etc

Nominal damages - where claimant is correct but no actual loss or damage arises.

Punitive damages - punishing damages for especially bad conduct

Question 2

What is voluntary assumption of risk?

Answer 2

Claimant has agreed to run risk of the negligence, thus defendant is not liable to pay damages

Question 3

What is contributory negligence?

Answer 3

When claimant has also been negligent, damages are therefore reduced.

Question 4

What are the three requirements for vicarious liability?

Answer 4

1 An employee/employer relationship
2 Employee must have committed a tort
3 Employee must have acted in the course of the employment when committing the tort in question

Question 5

When does an employer/employee relationship exist?

Answer 5

When employer had control over employee
Substance (not wording) of terms of the contract
Relationship as a whole
Has a tort been committed? YES
Was it in the course of employment? (Bad or unauthorised behaviour can still be in scope of employment)

Question 6

Distinguish between economic loss and pure economic loss

Answer 6

Economic loss includes damage to property, and consequential damage or losses (future earnings). This is recoverable

Pure Economic loss however is damage that is only financial, not towards property. Ie, you cannot claim damages for something that isn’t actually damaged! This is therefore not recoverable

Question 7

Are employers liable for independent contractors?

Answer 7

They are not vicariously liable, but if he authorises the commission of a tort, he will be liable jointly with the employee.