Lancashire Textiles (Jersey) Ltd v Thomson Shepherd & Company Ltd
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 29 November 1984 |
| Date | 29 November 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 16. |
| Court | Court of Session (Outer House) |
OUTER HOUSE.
Lord Davidson.
ContractBreach of contractDamagesPayment of damages to third party under separate contractWhether decree of court necessary to constitute debtRepayment of price and loss of profit under separate contractNegligence of purchaser contributing to lossRelevancyLaw Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 (cap. 28), secs. 11, 52.
ProcessAction of damages in respect of liability in damages to third party under separate contractDamages to third party uncertainWhether declarator ab ante appropriatePleadingsSufficient specification of averments of lossAverments of breach of separate contractRelevancySeparation of proof on merits of action and proof of damagesRules of Court 1965, rule 1083.
A company which supplied office furnishings raised an action against a company from which they had purchased a quantity of carpet. They averred that the carpet was classified as suitable for general contract use. After it had been installed in the offices of chartered accountants, the latter complained of the quality of the carpet. The pursuers found these complaints justified. The defenders replaced the carpet. The accountants required to replace partitions to allow this. The latter then rejected the replacement carpet on the ground that it rucked because of defective quality. They intimated to the pursuers a claim inter alia for repayment of the price and the greater cost of a new carpet. Although no action had been raised by the accountants, the pursuers paid them 25,000 to account. The pursuers themselves claimed this sum as damages in addition to repayment of the price which they had paid and the loss of their own profit. The defenders pled that the action should be dismissed. They contended that there were no relevant or specific averments of loss. No debt owed by the pursuers to the accountants had been constituted by decree and the appropriate process would have been a declarator. They also pled that the negligent laying of the carpet had contributed to any loss in terms of sec. 1 of the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945. In answer to this allegation the pursuers averred that they had earlier purchased a different carpet from a subsidiary of the defenders. A different customer had
obtained a decree of a Jersey court against them and, when the subsidiary had been convened, the argument that that carpet had not been properly laid had not been...To continue reading
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Highlands And Islands Airports Limited V Shetland Islands Council
...of liability was sufficient to prevent the operation of a time bar (cf also Lancashire Textiles (Jersey) Ltd v Thomson Shepherd & Co Ltd 1985 SC 135, Lord Davidson at p 140). That view was consistent with the principle that a declarator of liability is the first stage in every petitory acti......
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Kathleen Kirkham V. Link Housing Group Limited
...He submitted that it could be. The point was considered by Lord Davidson in Lancashire Textiles (Jersey) Ltd v Thomson Shepherd & Co Ltd 1985 SC 135. I would respectfully agree with Lord Davidson's conclusions and would adopt the summary of the position provided by McBryde The Law of Contra......
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Highlands And Islands Airports Ltd V. Shetland Islands Council
...under the contract or, if not, paying damages'." And this approach was followed without comment in Lancashire Textiles v Thomson Shepherd 1985 SC 135. [30] The pursuer submitted that this "step by step" view provides content to the term "part implement" in the statutory definition which was......
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William Stewart+jemina Stewart V. Pure Limited
...part of the defendant. [16] The present case is a Category 1 case. In Lancashire Textiles (Jersey) Limited v Thomson Shepherd & Co Limited 1985 SC 135, Lord Davidson held that contributory negligence could not apply so as to reduce damages for breach of a contract for the sale of goods. The......
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Employers' Liability at Common Law: Two Competing Paradigms
...are other cases which suggest that Scots and English law are the same. In Lancashire Textiles (Jersey) Ltd v Thomson Shepherd Co Ltd1131131985 SC 135 at 141. Lord Davidson said that a breach of contract could form the basis of a plea in contributory negligence, but rejected the plea of cont......