Flashcards
Tort Law - Damages
Cards in this deck (6)
- 1Contemptuous damagesThe focus of contemptuous damages is to give effect to the court’s negative perception of a claimant’s actions. In cases, contemptuous damages are awarded ‘to indicate that while the claimant’s legal rights have technically been infringed, the court has formed a very low opinion of the claimant’s claim, or that his conduct was such that he deserved, at any rate, morally, what the defendant did to him’ (Peel and Goudkamp, 2014, p. 690).
- 2Nominal damagesThe aim of a nominal damages award is to reaffirm that there was an infringement of the claimant’s rights. Unlike the requirement of a loss in compensatory damages, nominal damages are granted in recognition that the claimant has suffered no loss as a result of a tort being committed.
- 3Compensatory damagesCompensatory damages is an award of money, so far as money can be, that is equivalent to the claimant’s loss. The objective of compensatory damages in tort is to restore the claimant to the position they would have been in had the tort not been committed (Livingstone v Rawyards Coal Co. (1880) 5 App Cas 25).
- 4Exemplary damagesThe purpose of exemplary damages is to punish the defendant and to deter them and others from engaging in similar behaviour in the future. A key requirement for this kind of damages to be awarded is that the defendant must deserve to be punished for what they have done.
- 5Aggravated damagesAggravated damages are awarded to compensate the claimant for mental torment and hurt feelings suffered as a result of the manner in which the defendant committed the tort (Khodaparast v Shad [2000] 1 WLR 618, 632). Aggravated damages are deemed warranted where the defendant acts maliciously or wilfully, or in a ‘high handed’ and insulting manner either in the commission of the tort, or in the way that the defendant treated the victim of the tort after it was committed.
- 6Gain-based damagesGain-based damages are focused on depriving the defendant of the gains they have in fact made as a result of their tort.
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- Year 2 Law Flashcards on Tort Law - Damages, created by Kerry McDönald on 23/04/2016.
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- Kerry McDönald
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