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Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 19:35:11 -0400 From: Jason Neyers Subject: New PC decision on Libel Awards
Dear Colleagues, The PC has just released a new judgment dealing with the issue of "how much is too much" in libel awards, see http://www.privy-council.org.uk/files/other/gleaner-adv.rtf. The decision is notable, at least from my perspective, for two reasons: (1) Lord Hoffmann's use of distributive justice reasoning to explain the current limitations on awards of general damages for personal injury. According to his Lordship, the limitations are needed to: (a) restore 'fairness between successful tort plaintiffs and other accident victims on state benefits' (para 62) who are unfairly disadvantaged in not being able to get damages because of such technicalities as causation and duty; and (b) to ensure that society (and Lord Hoffmann) can have reasonably priced car insurance (para 51 ff). (2) Lord Hoffmann's assertion that "Oil and vinegar may not mix ... but they combine to make an acceptable salad dressing" (para. 54) which is one of the funniest lines that I have read in the last few years. The more judgments of Lord Hoffmann I read, the more I fear that we may have another Lord Denning on our hands-- a judge who thinks that it is their duty to make social policy decisions for Parliament based on their own arm-chair empiricism.
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