Inverugie Investments Ltd v Hackett
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judgment Date | 1995 |
| Date | 1995 |
| Year | 1995 |
| Court | Privy Council |
Damages - Trespass - Measure of damages - Reversioners wrongfully ejecting lessee of property and incorporating it into hotel business - Lessee's entitlement to reasonable rent for apartments as mesne profits - Whether lessee's actual loss or reversioners' actual profits relevant
In November 1974 the plaintiff, the lessee of 30 apartments within a hotel complex on Grand Bahama, was ejected by the defendants, who were the hotel operators and reversioners under the lease. The defendants thereafter used the apartments as part of the hotel, which had an average occupancy of 35 to 40 per cent. In 1984 the plaintiff obtained an order for possession but he did not recover the apartments until April 1990. He then made an application in the Bahamas Supreme Court for mesne profits in respect of the 15 years' trespass by the defendants. The registrar calculated the damages by allowing 12 per cent. simple interest on the plaintiff's original investment of £300,000 and awarded a sum of £577,500. On the plaintiff's appeal and the defendants' cross-appeal on the assessment of the damages, the majority of the Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas held that the defendants were liable to pay the plaintiff a reasonable rent for the wrongful use of the apartments, but calculated that sum as being a percentage, in proportion to the total number of rooms, of the defendants' actual gross revenue from the hotel throughout the trespass period, less deductions for expenses and ground rent attributable to the apartments. The court accordingly awarded the plaintiff £1,813,269.
On the defendants' appeal to the Judicial Committee:—
Held, dismissing the appeal, that since a person wrongfully deprived of his property by a trespasser was entitled to recover a reasonable rent for the entire trespass period whether or not he had suffered any actual loss and whether or not the trespasser had derived any actual benefit from the use of the property, the defendants were liable to pay the plaintiff the going rate for the use of each of the apartments 365 days a year, notwithstanding that they had been unable to derive income from the property for all of that time due to the low levels of occupancy; and that, accordingly, since any figure based on that calculation would be in excess of the damages awarded by the majority of the Court of Appeal, which the plaintiff had not sought to challenge, the award made by that court would stand (post, pp. 717E–F, 718A–B, G–H, 719E).
The following cases are referred to in their Lordships' judgment:
Brynowen Estates Ltd. v. Bourne (unreported), 21 October 1981; Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Transcript No. 432 of 1981,
McArthur & Co. v. Cornwall [
Mediana (Owners of Steamship) v. Comet (Owners of Lightship) [
Ministry of Defence v. Ashman [
Penarth Dock Engineering Co. Ltd. v. Pounds [
Phillips v. Homfray (
Stoke-on-Trent City Council v. W. & J. Wass Ltd. [
Swordheath Properties Ltd. v. Tabet [
Whitwham v. Westminster Brymbo Coal and Coke Co. [
The following additional cases were cited in argument:
Altaf Ali v. Lalji Mal (
Barber v. Brown (
Chelsea (Viscount) v. Hutchinson [
Doe v. Hare (
Ministry of Defence v. Thompson [
Strand Electric and Engineering Co. Ltd. v. Brisford Entertainments Ltd. [
Surrey County Council v. Bredero Homes Ltd. [
Appeal (No. 17 of 1994), by leave of the Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, by the defendants, Inverugie Investments Ltd., from the judgment of the Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas (Melville P., Campbell and Rowe JJ.A.) given on 22 October 1993 allowing an appeal by the plaintiff, Richard Hackett, and dismissing the defendants' cross-appeal, as to the quantum of mesne profits awarded to the plaintiff by the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas (Mr. Registrar Strachan) on 14 September 1990 in respect of the defendants' trespass to the plaintiff's property. The plaintiff having died on 14 July 1993, his estate was represented on the appeal to the Board by Robert D. Curran, by virtue of an order of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas dated 3 November 1993 and who, together with Rose Curran, had agreed to take an assignment of the plaintiff's lease.
The facts are stated in the judgment.
Leolin Price Q.C. and Paul Stafford for the defendants.
John Mowbray Q.C. and Sara Hargreaves for the plaintiff.
27 February. The judgment of their Lordships was delivered by Lord Lloyd of Berwick.
This is in form an ordinary claim for mesne profits, that is to say a claim for damages for trespass to land. But the facts are...
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