BORTETEY v. ACHINIVU AND OTHERS
1960
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- MILLS-ODOI, J
Areas of Law
- Tort Law
- Commercial Law
1960
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The case involved a dispute over the recovery of damages following the total destruction of the plaintiff's taxicab in an accident. The plaintiff sought to recover its market value and additional compensation for future earnings loss. The court examined several legal authorities and ultimately held that the plaintiff was entitled to the market value of the taxicab before the accident but not for loss of future earnings. The principle of restitutio in integrum and the measure of damages for total loss of a chattel were key factors in the court's decision.
JUDGMENT OF MILLS-ODOI J.
Counsel for plaintiff submits that, because there is a total loss of the taxicab, his client is entitled to recover from the defendants both its market value before the date of the accident, and also a further sum in respect of the loss of future earnings. In support of this [p.74] submission he cited Gibb on Collision on Land (5th edition) page 213. The passage referred to by counsel for plaintiff at page 213 of Gibb does not support his contention that his client is entitled to recover in respect of the loss of earnings or mesne profits. According to that page,
“where there is a total loss of a ship there may be recovered, over and above her value at the time of loss, the profit lost under a charterparty then current, less the expenses probably to be incurred in earning that profit."
This is to be understood to mean that in addition to the market value of the chattel at the time of the accident, the owner is entitled to recover any consequential loss suffered by him, that is to say, the loss of profits which would have accrued from some specified use to which the chattel would have been put (The Racine [1906] P.273) and also special damage suffered by him, as (in this case) the expenses of towing the chattel. It is interesting to note that on the previous page Gibb states, under the heading "Damage to Chattel", "where there is total loss or destruction, the measure of damages is the market value of the chattel before the accident, less the value of any salvage".
The passage referred to by counsel for the plaintiff from Gibb and Millner's Trial of Motor Car Accident Cases (3rd edition) p. 286, section 285, does not apply to the issue involved in this case. That passage reads as follows:—
"The condition of the car after the collision shows the extent of the damage. If it is beyond repair, totally destroyed or rendered worthless, the plaintiff may recover in full its market value prior to the accident. He may also be entitled to recover for loss of profits caused by the destruction of the vehicle".
The "loss of profits" referred to in that passage does not mean loss of future profits or mesne profits, but profits which plaintiff would have earned from a contract which was subsisting at the date of the collision. The passage refers to the case of The Kate ([1899] P.165) in which the plaintiffs were the owners of the Norwegian barque Chrysolite, and the defendants were the owners of the Austrian steamship Kate. The questi