Assessment of damages: when benefits of avoiding loss are taken into account (Court of Appeal)

In Swynson Ltd v Lowick Rose LLP [2015] EWCA Civ 629, the court considered whether, when assessing the damages to be paid by negligent accountants, the fact that part of the loan advanced on the basis of the accountants' advice had been repaid should be taken into account to reduce the award, or whether it was a collateral benefit which could be ignored.

Note: The Supreme Court has allowed an appeal of this decision in Swynson v Lowick Rose [2017] UKSC 32, see Legal update, Court of Appeal wrong to apply principle of collateral benefit to allow party to recover damages for loss that had been avoided (Supreme Court).