special damages

Special damages is loss suffered by a particular claimant in the circumstances of the claimant, as opposed to the general loss which is presumed to follow from a breach of contract, infringement of intellectual property rights. Claims made in some areas of law prevent the claimant succeeding in its claim unless it proves to the satisfaction of the court that it has suffered special damage, such as malicious falsehood.

As is the case with general damages, simply because a precise sum of special damages is not able to be quantified does not mean that the claimant is disentitled to recovering special damages.

By way of example, suppose a business enters into a contract for the supply and installation of new plant and equipment. Suppose also that the business depends upon the proper and timely performance of that contract of supply in order to place it in a position to increase its productivity. In anticipation of the performance of that contract, the business enters into further contracts which will only be able to be performed by the business if the first contract is properly performed. In the event that the first contract is not performed such that the plant and equipment is not installed, the business is not in a position to perform those other contracts. In these circumstances, the business is likely to suffer special damage by falling in breach of those later contracts.

 

Usage: The claimant sought special damage for their unfair dismissal, which was represented by their loss of earnings.

Related Words: consequential loss; general damages; nominal damages; liquidated damages; mitigation of damage; remoteness of damage; assessment of damages; liquidated damages; penalties; breach of contract; quantum meruit; contributory negligence; contract; charging order; financial loss.