Remedies

Question 1

Two principle remedies

Answer 1

• Damages
• Injunctions

Question 2

• Damages

Answer 2

*An award of money.
* The most common remedy for a claim in tort.

Question 3

Injunction

Answer 3

• An order forcing the defendant to act or preventing the defendant
  from acting in a certain way.
• Rare and only suitable for certain kinds of cases, for example, in land-based torts.

Question 4

Aim of tort

Answer 4

• To put the claimant in the position they would have been
  in but for the defendant’s tortious act, as far as this is possible with an award of money
  To restore them to the position before the tort happened

Question 5

Compensatory damages

Answer 5

• Damages awarded to compensate the claimant for the harm they
  have suffered. The vast majority of awards of damages in tort claims ore awards of compensatory damages.

Question 6

Types of Compensatory damages

Answer 6

• general damages
• special damages

Question 7

Special damages - definition

Answer 7

Cover specifically provable and quantifiable financial losses at the time of trial. For example, loss of earnings incurred before trial.

Question 8

General damages - definition

Answer 8

Cover future financial losses, which cannot be specifically proven, and nonquantifiable losses such as compensation for physical injury

Question 9

Special Damages - Example

Answer 9

• Loss of earnings resulting from the injury up to the date of trial - the claimant con work out
  what earnings they hove lost. Earnings ore awarded net of tax and are non-taxable.
• Known cost of repairing the car.
• Any expenses that the claimant hos incurred in relation to medical care up to the dote of trial.

Question 10

General Damages - Example

Answer 10

• Compensation for the pain and suffering. The pain and suffering are non-quantifiable in
  money terms, but money is provided to compensate for them. The technical term for this is the
  award for ‘pain, suffering and loss of amenity’.
• loss of earnings after the date of the trial.
• Cost of adapting house.
• Any medical expenses that the claimant will incur after the date of the trial.

Question 11

Loss of amenity

Answer 11

• compensate for the effect of the injury on the claimant’s
  lifestyle,

Question 12

Paint suffering and loss of amenity award (PSLA)

Answer 12

• always be expressed as an overall
  single lump sum

Question 13

Body of case law determing the level of compensation a claimant may receive

Answer 13

See Kemp & Kemp.

Question 14

General damages: Calculation of future losses

Answer 14

• A lump sum for one off future expenses
• More complex when there is continuing loss of earnings or recurring expenses

Question 15

• More complex when there is continuing loss of earnings or recurring expenses

Answer 15

• Take annual expense and multiply by years of loss = multiplier
• Works on the assumption that the lump sum award it will make will be invested and the figure it awards, in effect, aims to provide the claimant with a sufficient income from the investment to replace what they have lost

Question 16

Deductions from damages

Answer 16

• Any state benefits received by the claimant as a result of their injury, such as unemployment benefit if they have been prevented from working. State benefits con be deducted from compensation for lost earnings; cost of care; and loss of mobility. The defendant pays the amount deducted back to the State.
• Any contractual sick pay they have received as a result of their injury.
• Any redundancy payment, if the redundancy resulted from the injury.

Question 17

What will not be deducted

Answer 17

Insurance pay-outs, ill-health pensions and any sums received by way of gifts or charity will not
be deducted.

Question 18

Damages when a claimant dies

Answer 18

Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1931
* ‘estate’ (ie legal representatives of the deceased person) may bring a claim for any losses (both pecuniary and non-pecuniary) suffered by the deceased as a result of an accident up to the date of death.
* Will be calculated as anormal personal injury award.
* No claim con be made for any losses that might have arisen after the date of death (s 1 (2)(a)).

Question 19

Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1931t

Answer 19

• ‘estate’ (ie legal representatives of the deceased person) may bring a claim for any losses (both pecuniary and non-pecuniary) suffered by the deceased as a result of an accident up to the date of death.
• Will be calculated as anormal personal injury award.
• No claim con be made for any losses that might have arisen after the date of death (s 1 (2)(a)).

Question 20

Can a claim be made for the death itself?

Answer 20

• No tort for death; or for expected death.

Question 21

Legislation: Fatal Accidents Act 1976

Answer 21

• Allows dependants of the deceased to claim for any losses suffered as a result of the death.

Question 22

Dependents
Legislation: Fatal Accidents Act 1976

Answer 22

Close blood relations and those related by marriage or who
have cohabited for over two years (s 1(3)

Question 23

How are losses calculated following death

Answer 23

• Losses arising from the date of the death to the date of assessment will be specifically calculated and any loss continuing after the date will be awarded, either as a lump sum or on a multiplier basis as appropriate.
• As multiple dependents and more uncertainty - multipliers will be lower than in PI cases