What is an award of damages?

• Published date: 14 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Trials & Appeals & Compensation
• Law Firm: BRI Ferrier
• Author: Mr Paul Croft

Damages are a legal relief referring to the sums, assessed in monetary terms, paid to a successful party arising from the wrongful conduct of another party. Damages are generally compensatory in character, as opposed to punitive or vindicatory in nature.

The plaintiff is responsible for proving the losses for which damages are claimed were caused by the defendant on the balance of probabilitiesⁱ. This requires the plaintiff to establish that:

• The defendant's actions were directly connected with, or substantially caused, by every loss for which the plaintiff seeks damagesⁱⁱ (causation);
• The plaintiff took reasonable steps to fulfil its duty to ensure continuing losses were not exacerbated by extraneous factors (mitigation), such as the plaintiff's own carelessnessⁱⁱⁱ; and
• There is a likelihood that the losses resulted from the breach (remoteness). While the required degree of probability or certainty of the losses occurring may vary between remedies for...