Cases - Amec Developments Ltd v Jury's Hotel Management (UK) Ltd

Record details

Name

Amec Developments Ltd v Jury's Hotel Management (UK) Ltd

Date

(2000); [2000]; [2001]

Citation

82 P & CR 286' AII ER (D) 1866; 7 EG 163

Legislation

Chancery Amendment Act 1858

Keywords

Restrictive covenants - breach of - damages in substitution for injunction - test to be applied - whether damages should be awarded on the basis of a hypothetical negotiation - rights of light

Summary

This was not a rights of light, but a restrictive covenant case, where the defendant had trespassed during the construction of its hotel in Great Bridgewater St, Manchester, by some 3.9m onto the claimant's land.

The area of trespass was about 11% of the hotel's total area and allowed up to about 25 extra bedrooms to be built (the precise number was uncertain and was left open by the judge). The damages sought by the claimant were about £1.5m, and those of the defendant put at £140,500, in each case representing 50% of the net value of the over-development.

Both sides presented evidence of the profit the defendant was making from the additional building. The price paid for the site before construction in early 1998 was £2.65m.

The court considered what damages were payable to the claimant in lieu of an injunction, having regard to the gains the claimant made from the trespass and the sum that would have been arrived at by the parties in negotiations (before building works started), had each made use of their bargaining positions, without holding out for unreasonable amounts.

Damages were then assessed at £375,000, being what the parties would have agreed having regard to the principles set out above. In the words of the judge, 'the deal has to feel right'.

While this is not a rights of light case, it has a bearing on the way the courts approach the question of damages for interference with light, where such damages are in lieu of an injunction and are based on the user, or release fee principles and geared to the profit being made from the over-building.