Measure of Damages (under English law)
- Measure of Damages (under English law)
Damages for breach of contract is a common law remedy, available as of right. It is designed to compensate the victim for their actual loss as a result of the wrongdoer’s breach rather than to punish the wrongdoer. If no loss has been occasioned by the plaintiff, only nominal damages will be awarded.
A victim will not necessarily recover every loss which flows from the breach by the defendant. In order to recover any damages, the losses suffered by the victim must be caused by the defendant, and not be too remote. Further, the plaintiff has a duty to mitigate his losses.
=Amount of da
The amount of damages a plaintiff would recover is usually measured at the ‘loss of bargain’ basis. For example,
* Causation and Contributory Negligence
* Remoteness
** Timing of the assessment of damages
Duty to Mitigate
A plaintiff has a duty to mitigate damages and can not recover losses it could have avoided through reasonable efforts.
Bases of Assessment
There are three bases of assessment.
* Expectation Interest/Loss of Bargain
* Reliance Interest - interest created based on reliance on contract or promise. Reliance damage includes:
# Benefit of bargain
# Lost profit
# Cost of cover
* Restitutionary Interest
Damages Exceeding Loss: Extra-Compensatory Awards
Extra-compensatory da
Source: Lord Scott
=Special Classes of Da
Other than pecuniary damages, which is the most common type of damages recovered, there are a few other recognizable types damages under English law:
* Injured Feelings and Disappointment
* Injured Reputation
* Speculative Damages
* Liquidated Damages and Penalty
* Quantum Meruit
* Exemplary or Punitive Damages
ee also
* Damages
External links
* [http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/3100.html Worldlii links to resources on the subject of damages]
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