Mitigation
The party claiming damages is expected to take steps to mitigate, or offset,
loss where this is reasonable, but there is no obligation to take extreme
steps, or to mitigate before the date of performance. It was said in British
Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co Ltd v Underground Electric
Railways Co of London Ltd (1912) that the party claiming would not be
expected to ‘take any step which a reasonable and prudent man would not
ordinarily take in the course of his business’.
Other remedies
Equitable remedies are available where common law remedies do not
provide a just outcome.
- Rescission has already been examined as a remedy for misrepresentation
(see Chapter 11, p. 179 for more detail). - Specific performance may be ordered if the court believes that it is
appropriate to force someone to fulfil an obligation under a contract. The
sanction for not complying is a fine or imprisonment for contempt of court. - An injunction may be ordered to stop a person from acting in breach of
contract where merely awarding damages is not appropriate. For example,
if a factory begins to allow noxious fumes to escape from a chimney,
Remedies 229‘Normal’
foreseeable
losses will be
compensated
...... but not
particularly unusual
or lucrative losses
which would not
have been within
the contemplation
of the parties
Figure 15.1
Victoria Laundry v Newman (1949)
A boiler was to be fitted in a laundry, and after delay a claim was made
for loss of normal profit and for not being able to undertake a
particularly lucrative dyeing contract for the Ministry of Supply. The
claim for loss of normal profits was upheld but not the one for the extra
work, as it could not have been foreseen.