Wakilii

Adye v Tida and Another (Civil Appeal No. 15 of 1955.)

East African Court of Appeal · [1955] EACA 15 · 1950 Appeal Allowed — Damages Increased AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Appeal from Supreme Court of Kenya against quantum of general damages awarded for personal injury
Decision
General damages increased from £1,000 to £3,000

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The Court of Appeal held that where an award of general damages differs widely from awards in comparable cases and the trial judge did not consider the notional standard from parallel cases, an appellate court may properly intervene. The appellant suffered extremely severe concussion and multiple fractures. The award of £1,000 departed manifestly from comparable awards and was increased to £3,000.

Outcome

General damages increased from £1,000 to £3,000

Facts

The appellant was injured in a collision between his car and the first respondent's lorry. He suffered extremely severe concussion, described as the most severe the treating doctor had encountered in Kenya that had not resulted in death. He remained unconscious for nearly seven weeks with intervals of maniacal violence and his life was in danger. He also suffered eight fractures. The trial judge awarded £1,000 general damages. The appellant made a remarkably good recovery, though not complete, from both the brain injury and physical injuries. Liability and special damages were not in dispute on appeal.

Issues

  1. Whether the award of £1,000 general damages for personal injury was so manifestly inadequate as to justify appellate interference.

Orders

  • Appeal allowed.
  • Award of Sh. 20,000 general damages set aside.
  • Award of Sh. 60,000 general damages substituted.
  • Respondents to pay costs of the appeal.

Rules and key headnotes

Damages & Quantum — General Damages — Personal Injury — Notional Standard
In awarding general damages for personal injury, a trial judge must consider the notional standard to be gathered from the general level of awards in parallel cases.
Civil Procedure — Appeals — Quantum of Damages — Appellate Interference
Where an award of general damages differs widely from the awards given in comparable cases, it may be right for an appellate court to alter it.
Damages & Quantum — Assessment — Comparative Analysis
Awards of general damages should be related to a notional standard gathered from the general level of such awards in parallel cases, and if an award departs widely from amounts habitually given in similar cases, appellate interference is justified.

Cases cited (4)

  • Traill v Bowker (1947) 14 EACA 20
  • Kungo v Clark (1952) 19 EACA 60
  • Bhanushanker M Mehta v Patel & Co (1954) 21 EACA 169
  • Saint v Hogan (1953) 20 EACA 85

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Adye v Tida and Another (Civil Appeal No. 15 of 1955.) [1950] EACA 33 (1 January 1950)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.