Tort - Damages

Question 1

Damages:

Answer 1

The claimant has by now shown that he is owed a duty of care and that the defendant has breached this by behaving unreasonably. The final test is that the defendant did in fact cause the damage (causation) and that the type of damage was not too remote (remoteness of damage). Within civil law, we are looking to put the victim back in the position they were in before the incident took place.

Question 2

Damages:

Causation.

Answer 2

The but for test - would the claimant have suffered harm but for the defendant’s lack of care.
Barnett v Kensington Chelsea Hospital.

Question 3

Damages:

Remoteness of Damage.

Answer 3

Only losses that are reasonably foreseeable can be recovered.
The Wagon Mound, Hughes v Lord Advocate
This means that the type of damage must be reasonably foreseeable, but the precise manner need not be foreseeable. Thin skull rule applies.
Smith v Leech Brain and Co.

Question 4

Damages:
Special Damages (specific).

Answer 4

Can be calculated to the penny (receipt)
Loss of wages up to trial
Medical bills up to trial
Taxi services
Physical damage to property.

Question 5

Damages: 
General Damages (estimated).

Answer 5

Loss of amenity
Pain and suffering
Future medical expenses
Future loss of earnings

Question 6

Damages:
Equitable Damages (by request of the judge).

Answer 6

i) prohibitory injunction: writ given to the defendant, stops them doing something.
ii) mandatory injunction: forces the defendant to act in a certain way.