Nominal Damages and Contemptuous Damages

• Author: Jamie Cassels
• Profession: Professor of Law University of Victoria
• Pages: 281-285

CHAPTER

9

NOMINAL

DAMAGES

AND

CONTEMPTUOUS

DAMAGES

A.

NOMINAL

DAMAGES

1)

Definition

and

Purpose

Nominal damages serve

to

vindicate

the

plaintiffs

rights even when

no

compensation

is

necessary. Nominal damages

are a

small

sum of

money, awarded when

the

plaintiff

is

able

to

establish

a

cause

of

action

but has

suffered

no

substantial

loss

or is

unable

to

prove what that

loss

is. The

purpose

of

nominal damages

is to

serve

as a

declaration

of the

plaintiffs

rights

and a

minor deterrent

to the

defendant.

McGregor

describes

the

purpose

of

nominal damages

as

"establish-

ing, determining

or

protecting

a

legal

right."1

He

states that they

are

available

in two

situations.

The

first

is

where

the

plaintiff

proves that

she

has

suffered

some wrong,

but no

loss

(or a

trifling

loss)

has

arisen

from

that

wrong.

The

other,

and

less important, situation

is

when

the

plaintiff

has

shown there

was a

loss

but the

"necessary evidence

as to its

amount

is not

given."

An

ancillary reason

for

awarding nominal damages

is

that

they

may be a

"peg

on

which

to

hang

costs."2

This approach

is no

longer

necessary

in

most provinces because courts have

a

wide discretion

as to

costs

and may

award costs independently

of any

damages award.

1 H.

McGregor,

McGregor

on

Damages,

15th

ed.

(London: Sweet

&

Maxwell Ltd.,

1988)

at

403.

2

Maule

J. in

Beaumont

v.

Greathead

(1846),

2

C.B.

494 at

499,

135

E.R. 1039.

281