If you take someone to court for trespassing on your property the court awards damages on the basis of the loss you have suffered. The principle is that damages are intended to compensate rather than punish the trespasser. However, in the recent case of Ramzan – v - Brookwide Limited 2010 the court also awarded exemplary damages to Mr Ramzan because of the way Brookwide had behaved.
Mr Ramzan had an Indian restaurant that had a first floor function room. The fire escape was from a first floor store room that was physically within the next door property owned by Brookwide (i.e. it was over the ground floor of Brookwide’s property). The store room (and therefore the fire escape) could only be reached through Mr Ramzan’s property and obviously the fire escape was essential to the function room.
Brookwide converted the first floor of their property into flats and in doing so knocked down the wall from their property into the store room and made the store room into part of the flat, blocking up the doors into Mr Ramzan’s property and cutting off use of the fire escape. The store room is now a permanent part of the flat.
Mr Ramzan sued and was awarded nearly Ł430,000 in damages including exemplary damages of Ł60,000. He was also awarded interest and Brookwide may well have to pay all his costs as well as their own.
In this case the judge awarded exemplary damages saying that Brookwide acted "with reckless disregard of the interests of the true owner"
and that Brookwide’s conduct "…before taking any steps to check the legal position … probably says everything that one needs to know about the attitude of the individuals behind Brookwide”.
The judge went on to say that exemplary damages are necessary because “The size of the compensation would not in itself deter Brookwide from doing the same thing again if it felt it could get away with it.
Mr Ramzan had an Indian restaurant that had a first floor function room. The fire escape was from a first floor store room that was physically within the next door property owned by Brookwide (i.e. it was over the ground floor of Brookwide’s property). The store room (and therefore the fire escape) could only be reached through Mr Ramzan’s property and obviously the fire escape was essential to the function room.
Brookwide converted the first floor of their property into flats and in doing so knocked down the wall from their property into the store room and made the store room into part of the flat, blocking up the doors into Mr Ramzan’s property and cutting off use of the fire escape. The store room is now a permanent part of the flat.
Mr Ramzan sued and was awarded nearly Ł430,000 in damages including exemplary damages of Ł60,000. He was also awarded interest and Brookwide may well have to pay all his costs as well as their own.
Why is this case important?
Although exemplary damages (sometimes called punitive damages) are not very common this case shows that the court can and will use their powers in this way if they think it is necessary.In this case the judge awarded exemplary damages saying that Brookwide acted "with reckless disregard of the interests of the true owner"
and that Brookwide’s conduct "…before taking any steps to check the legal position … probably says everything that one needs to know about the attitude of the individuals behind Brookwide”.
The judge went on to say that exemplary damages are necessary because “The size of the compensation would not in itself deter Brookwide from doing the same thing again if it felt it could get away with it.
