Sands v Devan
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 29 May 1945 |
| Docket Number | No. 43. |
| Date | 29 May 1945 |
| Court | Court of Session (Inner House - First Division) |
1ST DIVISION.
Sheriff of Ayrshire.
DamagesDelictLoss of son aged fiveElements to be taken into accountChanges in the value of money.
In an action of damages in which the Court awarded a father 250 as solatium for the death of his son, aged five, which had been caused by the negligent driving of a motor lorry,
Observed that, in assessing damages, the Court must take account of large and relatively permanent variations in the value of money.
John Edmund Sands brought an action in the Sheriff Court at Ayr against John Devan for damages in respect of the death of his son, Bernard William Sands, then aged five years, which he averred had been caused by the negligence of the defender in reversing a motor lorry without taking proper precautions.
The defender pleaded, inter alia:"(1) The accident condescended on not having been caused by the fault and negligence of the defender, he is not liable for reparation in respect thereof and should be assoilzied with expenses."
On 21st December 1944, after a proof, the Sheriff-substitute (J. H. Dickson) pronounced an interlocutor whereby, inter alia, he sustained the defender's first plea in law and granted absolvitor.
The pursuer appealed to the Court of Session, and the case was heard before the First Division on 10th, 11th and 15th May 1945.
At advising on 29th May 1945,
LORD PRESIDENT (Normand).[After expressing his opinion that the respondent was liable to make reparation]
It remains to assess the damages. The appellant incurred expenditure which, it was agreed, amounted to 30. In addition he is entitled to solatium. The relation of money compensation to the grief and suffering of a father is necessarily vague and even arbitrary, and the very attempt to measure such suffering by money is pitifully discordant. There are many authoritative warnings in the books against excessive awards induced by sympathy. To these warnings we are bound to lend an obedient ear. But that does not mean that we are still to observe the limits laid down when the purchasing power of money was much greater than it is now. Since we must perforce measure the damage in money, we must, I think, take account of large and relatively permanent variations in the value of money. I think that an award of 250 for solatium is in this case just and fitting. The whole damages will therefore be 280. From this it is agreed that a sum of 20 paid by the respondent to the child's mother should...
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...200, 250, 300 and 350, one-half only of these sums being decerned for owing to the finding of contributory negligence. Sands v. Devan, 1945 S. C. 380, and Bwllfa and Merthyr Dare Steam Collieries v. Pontypridd Waterworks Co.ELR,[1903] A. C. 426, Timothy Kelly, as an individual and as tutor ......
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Bars to the payment of prejudgment interest: The Supreme Court and the Federal Employers' Liability Act
...Railway Corp. (1995). 891 F. Supp. 428 (N.D. Ohio). St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Dickinson (1985). 470 U.S. 409. Sands v. Devon (1945). S.C. 380. United States Code (1988). Vol. 18. Willard v. Taylor (1869). 75 U.S. 557....