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GENERAL DAMAGES ARE PRESUMED BY THE LAW

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Dictum

General damages are what the law presumes, but they must flow from the type of wrong complained about by the plaintiff and they frequently result from the tort for which the plaintiff has sued. They are at large in that the quantum of general damages need not be pleaded and proved as they are supposed to be a compensation for the loss or inconvenience flowing naturally from the wrong. They are thus not quantifiable but assessable by the trial Court taking the relevant matters into consideration.

– Yahaya, JCA. MTN v. Ezugwu (2018)

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COMPENSATORY DAMAGES IS SAME AS GENERAL DAMAGES

Indeed, Compensatory Damages is the same as General Damages which is damages recovered in payment for actual injury or economic loss, which does not include punitive damages. A sum of money awarded in a civil action by a Court to indemnify a person for the particular loss, detriment, or injury suffered as a result of the unlawful conduct of another. Compensatory damages provide a plaintiff with the monetary amount necessary to replace what was lost, and nothing more.

– Peter-Odili, JSC. Mekwunye v. Emirates (2018) – SC.488/2014

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PAIN AND SUFFERING SHOULD BE AWARDED UNDER GENERAL DAMAGES

Once a plaintiff has successfully shown that he suffered personal injury as a result of a breach of duty owed him by the defendant, the claim for pain and suffering must be considered. No principle can be laid down upon which damages for pain and suffering can be awarded in terms of the quantum. There is, however, no doubt that pain and suffering is a recognized head of award that sounds in general damages. The court must consider what the compensation should be going by the evidence that gives an insight into the intensity of the pain and suffering. The award is usually generous although it should not be excessively high or grossly low. It must be such as reasonably tends to reflect the intensity of the pain and suffering.

– Uwaifo JSC. C & C Constr. v. Okhai (2003) – SC.8/1999

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GENERAL DAMAGES ARE COMPENSATION PRESUMED BY THE LAW

General damages are said to be damages that the law presumes and they flow from the type of wrong complained about by the victim. They are compensatory damages for harm that so frequently results from the tort for which a party has sued; that the harm is reasonably expected and need not be alleged or proved. A long line of cases of this Court have followed this line but I shall refer to a few.

– Peter-Odili, JSC. Mekwunye v. Emirates (2018) – SC.488/2014

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COURT DOES NOT ACT ON PRESUMPTION

It is very elementary that no court acts on presumption. It acts on hard facts.

– Amaizu, J.C.A. Adeniran v. Olagunju (2001)

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PRESUMPTION OF REGULARITY OF JUDICIAL ACTS

This practice is informed by the presumption, reinforced by section 168(1) of the Evidence Act, 2011 (formerly section 150(1) of the Evidence Act, 1990), that provides that when a judicial act is shown to have been done in a manner substantially regular, it is presumed that all formal requisites for its validity were complied with. There is, in this further appeal, no viable complaint against the formal requisites for the validity of the concurrent judgments, the subject of this further appeal.

– Eko JSC. Chemiron v. Stabilini (2018)

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GENERAL DAMAGES ARISES BY INFERENCE OF LAW

On the general damages claimed, it needs not be specifically pleaded. It arises from inference of law and need not be proved by evidence. It suffices once generally averred in the pleadings. As I stated earlier, they are presumed by the law to be the direct and probable consequence of the act of the defendant complained of. Unlike special damages, it is generally incapable of substantially exact calculation.

– ARIWOOLA J.S.C. Union Bank v. Chimaeze (2014)

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