Court awards ‘bizarre’ loss for breach of contract

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This case shows how unpredictable the courts are and how impossible it is to answer “What are my chances of winning in court?”

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The usual story, a consumer sues for more than the value of the car she seeks to reject. Our client defends it but the judge finds in favour of the consumer although we firmly believe there was no real justification for it.

The consumer sought to add insurance, tax and, wait for it… the cost of TWO covers that had been put over the car whilst it was parked.  And why two? Because apparently one cover had blown off down the street and she chose to pay for a replacement! Despite strong protests, the judge allowed this loss because he felt she was protecting the car from damage.

She also claimed for postage, which was given but not for photocopying, however this was only after the judge had checked the rules upon being told that photocopying was not recoverable. The Claimant also tried to claim £40 a month for apparently parking the car on someone’s driveway! This was not allowed in court BUT only because the Claimant could not prove it! Luckily for our client, she didn’t produce a cigarette packet or post-it note with the words “parking £40 a month” on it or she may well have trousered that amount too.

The above shows how unpredictable the courts are and how impossible it is for us to answer that one question we always get asked: “What are my chances of winning in court?” The answer, my friends, is the same. Heads? Or tails? Oh, and someone else gets to call…

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Jason WilliamsLegal AdvisorRead More by this author

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