Remedies

• Damages


  The primary remedy for a party who suffers a breach of contract
• Purpose of damages


  To compensate the claimant, as far as money can, by placing the claimant in the position he would have been in had the contract been performed
• Losses from breach of contract


  • Pecuniary (financial) loss
  • Non-pecuniary loss (mental distress, disappointment, hurt feelings or humiliation)
• Traditionally, non-pecuniary losses were not compensated (Addis v Gramophone; Watts v Morrow)


  This rule has been relaxed for contracts which are specifically for pleasure, relaxation and peace of mind (Jarvis v Swan Tours; Farley v Skinner)
• Requirements to claim damages


  • Breach must cause the losses
  • Voluntary act of the claimant can break the chain of causation (Quinn v Burch Brothers)
  • Rules on remoteness of damage limit recovery of damages
• Remoteness of damage - Hadley v Baxendale


  A defendant will only be liable for losses that were reasonably foreseeable as arising from the breach
• Claimant cannot recover for exceptionally lucrative contract - Victoria Laundry v Newman Industries Ltd


  If defendant was unaware of this contract
• Mitigation of loss - Pilkington v Wood


  • Claimants must mitigate their loss, they cannot simply sit back and allow their losses to increase
• Basis of damages claim


  • Loss of expectation (Golden Victory)
  • Reliance loss (Anglia TV v Reed)
• Claimant cannot claim for both loss of expectation and reliance loss
• Equitable remedies


  Discretionary, used where damages are inadequate to compensate
• Equitable remedies


  • Injunctions
  • Specific performance
  • Rescission
  • Rectification
• Types of injunction


  • Interlocutory or interim (temporary)
  • Prohibitory (must not do something)
  • Mandatory (must do something)(Warner Bros v Nelson)
• Specific performance


  • Rarely awarded, courts reluctant to order unwilling performance, only available where damages inadequate (Beswick v Beswick), contract made fairly (Walters v Morgan), and no great hardship/unfairness on defendant (Patel v Ali)
• Rescission


  Places parties back in their pre-contractual position, mainly used in misrepresentation cases, must be possible to return to pre-contractual state (Clarke v Dickson)
• Rectification


  Allows a written document to be altered to correct mistakes. Granted wen a written agreement contradicts the actual agreement made by the parties. applicable only for written contracts (Craddock v Hunt)