Jarvis v Swans Tours Ltd
Damages for disappointment and distress can be recovered where the contract is one to provide enjoyment, such as a holiday.
Facts
Mr Jarvis, a solicitor employed by a local council, booked a two week winter sports holiday at Mörlialp in Switzerland for £63.45, relying on Swans Tours' brochure. The brochure promised a house party, a welcome party, afternoon tea and cakes, a yodeller evening and a bar. In fact, there were only 13 guests in the first week, and in the second week Mr Jarvis was the only guest. The skis provided were poor, the cakes were dry crisps, the yodeller was a local man who sang a few songs in his working clothes, and the bar was open only one evening. The trial judge awarded him £31.72, half the price of the holiday.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal increased the damages to £125. Lord Denning MR said that, in a proper case, damages for mental distress can be recovered in contract, for instance where the contract is to provide entertainment and enjoyment, such as a holiday. Mr Jarvis had been promised a holiday full of enjoyment and had received a very disappointing one, so he was entitled to compensation for his loss of enjoyment and disappointment, not merely the difference in value between what was promised and what was provided. The case created an exception to the rule in Addis v Gramophone Co.
Related cases on remedies
- Addis v Gramophone Co Ltd [1909] AC 488
- Anglia Television Ltd v Reed [1972] 1 QB 60
- Attorney General v Blake [2001] 1 AC 268
- British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co Ltd v Underground Electric Railways Co of London Ltd [1912] AC 673
- Cavendish Square Holding BV v Makdessi; ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67, [2016] AC 1172
- Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd v Argyll Stores (Holdings) Ltd [1998] AC 1
- Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79
- Farley v Skinner [2001] UKHL 49, [2002] 2 AC 732
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