Notes
The standard remedy for breaching contracts is damages, i.e. money.
How does the court calculate and decide damages?
In what sen do damages put things right?
Expectation, reliance and restitution interests.
Expectation interest is the interest in getting what you were promised.
This moves you to an equivalent position
had the opposite party did what they were meant to. This is the desired
and common approach.
Reliance is when the claimant has relied on the defendant but a breac
happened so what happens is, the position
of the 2 parties is not restored but instead the original position had the
contract not took place.
Restitution undoes D's gains from the contract. This is essentially not
about losses. This is much rarer. A-G v Blake:
breach of contract since George Blake was in a contract to work for the
British Intelligence but instead he helped
Soviets and then wrote a memoir in Moscow.
You get a free choice between expectation and reliance and obviously
you would choose whichever gives you profit.
People have to think about which position would be better for them; is it
better to receive damages and end the
contract and be free of it, or is it better to receive a sum of money and
refresh the contract which would end up
working in your favour in the long run?
Note that the law FOCUSES on expectation interests.
Anglia TV v Reed (reliance interests): Anglia TV wants to make a new TV
series and Reed is looking to be its star. just
before the recording begins, Reed backs out. Clear breach of contract.
The Q is which type of damages?
The problem is that no one knows how much profit Anglia TV will have
made from using Reed in its show. This made it
impossible for them to provide evidence for the expectation interest. But
they were able to use the reliance interest.
However Reed could easily argue back and say that he generated no
profit for them so no damage payments are in order.
In Ruxley v Forsyth
Ruxley argues that even though there was a breach of contract Forsyth
still got a nice pool that is as good as what they
wanted.
The standard remedy for breaching contracts is damages, i.e. money.
How does the court calculate and decide damages?
In what sen do damages put things right?
Expectation, reliance and restitution interests.
Expectation interest is the interest in getting what you were promised.
This moves you to an equivalent position
had the opposite party did what they were meant to. This is the desired
and common approach.
Reliance is when the claimant has relied on the defendant but a breac
happened so what happens is, the position
of the 2 parties is not restored but instead the original position had the
contract not took place.
Restitution undoes D's gains from the contract. This is essentially not
about losses. This is much rarer. A-G v Blake:
breach of contract since George Blake was in a contract to work for the
British Intelligence but instead he helped
Soviets and then wrote a memoir in Moscow.
You get a free choice between expectation and reliance and obviously
you would choose whichever gives you profit.
People have to think about which position would be better for them; is it
better to receive damages and end the
contract and be free of it, or is it better to receive a sum of money and
refresh the contract which would end up
working in your favour in the long run?
Note that the law FOCUSES on expectation interests.
Anglia TV v Reed (reliance interests): Anglia TV wants to make a new TV
series and Reed is looking to be its star. just
before the recording begins, Reed backs out. Clear breach of contract.
The Q is which type of damages?
The problem is that no one knows how much profit Anglia TV will have
made from using Reed in its show. This made it
impossible for them to provide evidence for the expectation interest. But
they were able to use the reliance interest.
However Reed could easily argue back and say that he generated no
profit for them so no damage payments are in order.
In Ruxley v Forsyth
Ruxley argues that even though there was a breach of contract Forsyth
still got a nice pool that is as good as what they
wanted.
