Povey v W. E. & E. Jackson

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
JudgeLORD JUSTICE EDMUND DAVIES,LORD JUSTICE WIDGERY,SIR FREDERIC SELLERS
Judgment Date24 March 1970
Judgment citation (vLex)[1970] EWCA Civ J0324-3
CourtCourt of Appeal (Civil Division)
Date24 March 1970

[1970] EWCA Civ J0324-3

In The Supreme Court of Judicature

Court of Appeal

(On appeal from the District Registry, Manchester)

Before:-

Lord Justice Edmund Davies

Lord Justice Widgery and

Sir Frederic Sellers

Clarence Povey
and
W. E. & E. Jackson (a firm)

Mr. F. REYNOLD (instructed by Messrs Smiles & Co., Agents for Messrs Whitworths, Manchester) appeared on behalf of the Appellant (Plaintiff).

Mr. B. DUCKWORTH (instructed by Messrs Hatchett Jones & Co., Agents for Messrs Hodgson & Sons, Preston) appeared on behalf of the Respondents (Defendants).

LORD JUSTICE EDMUND DAVIES
1

This appeal relates solely to damages, and indeed, as launched, to the general damages of £250 awarded to a 46-year-old Plaintiff by the learned Registrar at Manchester in July of 1969. As a general observation, a party who is considering appealing on quantum is unwise to concentrate simply upon one item of damage, A more prudent course is to look at the damages awarded as a whole and not to seek to impeach a particular item unless it is, after careful consideration, demonstrably manifest that the global sum awarded ought not to stand. In this case, for reasons which will become obvious, the Plaintiff has sought to attack simply the award of general damages, which he alleges was too little. The Registrar in addition awarded the sum of £1, 540 by way of special damages. He did that on the basis that the incapacity extended from about the 1st December, 1966, to the 31st May, 1968; that is a period of 77 weeks. The agreed rate of special damages being £20 a week, he arrived at a figure of £1, 540. In the result he awarded the Plaintiff a sum of £1, 663. 4. 9d., which represented the combination of £250 general damages and £1, 540 special damages, less half the statutory benefits received. The Defendants have belatedly cross-appealed. Unlike the Plaintiff, they have not been content to attack the general damages awarded, but have said initially that both they said the special damages should have been less than was awarded. The Plaintiff says that the general damages should have been not £250 but in the region of £1,000.

2

The very short facts are that about the 1st December, 1960, the Plaintiff contracted brucellosis owing to the negligence of the Defendants, and for a substantial period of time thereafter he was incapacitated from work. He had very distressing symptoms which were itemised by the learned Judge, symptoms not simply of a physical character but having psychological accompaniments of a distressing and disturbing kind. The two questions that arise here are, first of all, howlong did those symptoms continue and in what degree, and accordingly to what general damages ought he to be entitled; and secondly what special damages should he awarded for the period of time during which he...

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6 cases
  • Koh Soon Pheng v Tan Kah Eng
    • Singapore
    • High Court (Singapore)
    • 14 May 2003
    ...the current state of the law as at the date of citation: at [22].] George v Pinnock [1973] 1 WLR 118 (folld) Povey v W E & E Jackson [1970] 1 WLR 969; [1970] 2 All ER 495 (not folld) Smith v Manchester Corporation (1974) 17 KIR 1 (folld) Monoj Kumar Roy (Roy & Partners) for the plaintiff Si......
  • Eaton v Johnston
    • Cayman Islands
    • Court of Appeal (Cayman Islands)
    • 25 November 2005
    ...2 Q.B. 130; [1970] 1 All E.R. 1202; [1970] 1 Lloyd”s Rep. 107, dicta of Lord Denning, M.R. applied. (6) Povey v. W.E. & E. Jackson, [1970] 1 W.L.R. 969; [1970] 2 All E.R. 495, dictum of Edmund Davies, L.J. applied. (7) United Dairy Farmers Ltd.v. GouldbourneUNK(1984), 21 J.L.R. 10, dicta of......
  • George v Pinnock
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 8 November 1972
    ...contentions pressed on behalf of the respondents. On their behalf, Mr. Gibson laid special stress, with the aid of ( Povey -v- Jackson 1970 1 W. L. R. p.969) on the global figure awarded by the learned trial judge. He sought inter alia to persuade us to add the sum assessed at £19,000 for g......
  • John Alan Smerdon v Tali Kaipeng Raquel [1973] PNGLR 313
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Supreme Court
    • 27 June 1973
    ...and a case where the total sum was treated by the Court of Appeal as being of both special and general damages — Povey v. Jackson [1970] 2 All E.R. 495.22. Other cases are referred to by Windeyer J in Faulkner v. Keffalinos (1971) 45 A.L.J.R. 80, at pp. 83-4.23. I have already set out the p......
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