Choice of Law for Quantification of Damages: A Judgment of the House of Lords Makes a Bad Rule Worse

HARDING v. WEALANDS Mr. Harding, an Englishman, and Ms. Wealands, an Australian, began a relationship in Australia.20 She moved to England to live with him.21 Ms. Wealands returned to Australia to attend a family wedding.22 He later joined her for a holiday and to visit her parents.23 While she was...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Texas international law journal 2007-04, Vol.42 (2), p.311
Main Author: Weintraub, Russell J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Federal court decisions
International law
Juries
Litigation
Punitive damages
State court decisions
Torts
Trials
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Summary:HARDING v. WEALANDS Mr. Harding, an Englishman, and Ms. Wealands, an Australian, began a relationship in Australia.20 She moved to England to live with him.21 Ms. Wealands returned to Australia to attend a family wedding.22 He later joined her for a holiday and to visit her parents.23 While she was driving in New South Wales (NSW) with Mr. Harding as a passenger, she lost control and the vehicle turned over.24 He was badly injured and became tetraplegie as a result of the injury.25 Ms. Wealands owned the vehicle and carried liability insurance issued by an Australian company.26 Both Mr. Harding and Ms. Wealands returned to England.27 A NSW statute places limits on compensation for various damages including lost earnings and non-economic damages, and in other ways restricts recovery.28 Under NSW law the plaintiff would recover about thirty percent less than under English law.2' The United Kingdom Private International Law Act 1995 abolished the double actionability choice-of-law rule for torts30 and created a presumption that that the law of the place of injury governs31 unless it is substantially more appropriate to apply some other law.32 section 14(3)(b) states that the statute does not authorize questions of procedure in any proceedings to be determined otherwise than in accordance with the law of the forum.
ISSN:0163-7479