Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 11:47

From: Charles Mitchell

Subject: Benefits in prison

Members of both the ODG and the RDG will find things to interest them in O'Brien v Independent Assessor [2007] UKHL 10, where the majority hold that when assessing damages for loss of earnings by a claimant who has been wrongfully imprisoned, a deduction should be made to reflect the fact that he has received a benefit from the prison service in the shape of food and lodging. Lord Rodger dissents, invoking the principle in 'lost years' cases that when calculating damages for lost earnings the courts should not concern themselves with what claimants would have spent their earnings on, and asserting that: 'justice, reasonableness and public policy surely dictate that no allowance should be made for so-called savings which the appellants were supposedly making while they were actually enduring the appalling wrong for which they are to be compensated.'

CM

Professor Charles Mitchell
School of Law
King's College London
Strand
London WC2R 2LS

tel: 020 7848 2290
fax: 020 7848 2465

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