JUDICIAL

REMEDIES
INTRODUCTION
 As we learned in civil procedure, the last step
of a trial is for the judge to award judicial
relief
 Judicial relief is also known as a remedy, and
can take place in many forms
 The most common form is to award money
damages
 There are also equitable remedies that are
awarded in addition, to any money damages
that are awarded
COMMON LAW
REMEDIES
What are some of the common law remedies?
COMMON LAW REMEDIES
 Common law remedies are generally limited
to the court’s determination of some legal
right and the award of money damages
 Usually, a common law court grants relief in
the form of damages, or a sum of money, as
compensation for a wrongful act by the
defendant
 Damages are classified as compensatory,
punitive, nominal, and liquidated
COMPENSATORY DAMAGES
 Compensatory damages are awarded to
compensate a plaintiff for losses resulting
from the defendant conduct
 Damages are usually limited to those that are
reasonably foreseeable by the defendant as
a result of the breach
 In the awarding of compensatory damages the
court’s objective to put the plaintiff in the
same financial position before the breach
 A person who is injured must also
minimize damages, known as the rule of
mitigation
COMPENSATORY DAMAGES
Question: What damages would
result from the incident below?
 Types of Compensatory Damages
 Benefit Rule
 When a defendant’s conduct results in both a
negative and positive effect, the court must
consider the positive effect in awarding relief
 This is known as the benefit rule
 General Damages
 General Damages are those that are natural and
necessary as a result of a defendant’s actions
 Special Damages
 Special Damages are damages awarded that arise
from a specific situation and circumstance of
the wrongful act

If you said special damages

you’re right!!!
 If you are bed ridden after an
assault, then you might sue for

HEDONIC DAMAGES hedonic damages.

 Plaintiffs in recent years have been calling

for a new type of damages, called hedonic
damages
 Hedonic damages are basically
compensation for loss of enjoyment of life
 For example, if you are assaulted and cannot
move, then you can’t enjoy life anymore
 Hedonic damages are different in kind from
physical pain and mental anguish, and are
classified differently You simply can’t live a normal,
independent life being in bed!!!
DEBATE
Debate (Discussion) 2min.:
 Hedonic damages are something that more plaintiffs are suing for in recent years
 Many states allow them and many don’t
 The reason is that the damage of pain and suffering normally takes care of mental anguish or
physical pain

Do you agree or disagree with hedonic damages?

PUNITIVE DAMAGES
Question: Could an act of
negligence result in punitive
damages?
If you said no, you’re
right!!!
 Punitive damages are awarded to punish
defendants for their conduct and to deter
others from following in their footsteps
 The may include an award of attorney’s fees
 They are additional damages that are
imposed, regardless or criminal charges
 Such an award is only used if the defendant
purposely committed a wrongful act, or the
act was done with evil disposition
NOMINAL DAMAGES
 Nominal damages are awarded when there
had been a wrong committed by a defendant,
but there is no evidence of specific harm
 This occurs for example, if a plaintiff steps on
your property and leaves
 The judge awards a token sum ($50) to
vindicate the plaintiff’s claim or to
establish a legal right
 Nominal damages are also awarded when
the plaintiff proves a breach of conduct, but
no evidence of the harm that breach
caused
LIQUIDATED DAMAGES
 In some contracts there is a clause of how
much money will be paid to the other
party if there is a breach of contract
 These are known as liquidated damages
 Traditionally courts uphold liquidated
damages if the following conditions are met:
 The damages in the case of breach are
uncertain
 The parties have agreed in advance to not pay
the money
 The amount agreed upon is unreasonable
EQUITABLE
REMEDIES
What is the difference between equitable remedies and common law remedies?
EQUITABLE REMEDIES
 An equitable remedy was originally
awarded by a court of equity back in England
 Today most courts have the power to grant
common and equitable remedies
 The awarding of equitable remedies is
always decided by a judge never a jury
 Traditionally, equitable remedies are only
granted when common law remedies are
inadequate
INJUNCTIONS
 An injunction is an equitable remedy in the
form of a judicial order directing the
defendant to act in a specific way
 There are two types of injunctions:
 A mandatory injunction is compelling the
defendant to act in a specific way
 A prohibitory injunction is one prohibiting
the defendant to act in a specific way
 Injunctions are divided into different classes
and are enforced by contempt of court
charges
INJUNCTIONS
 Classes of Injunctions
 Permanent Injunction
 A permanent injunction is a decreed after a full
presentation of evidence by both sides
 It is permanent in the sense that it is supposed to
solve a dispute
 Preliminary Injunction
 A preliminary injunction is granted as a
emergency before evidence is heard from the
other side
 Temporary Restraining Order
 A temporary restraining order is granted
without notice to a defendant and the trial judge
only hears the plaintiff's side A restraining order may be
 It is an ex parte injunction granted in abuse cases
DEBATE
Debate (Discussion) 2min.:
 The temporary restraining order (TRO) is one that is served without notice to defendant
 So, if you were the defendant you may interact with that person again, and get arrested
 Is that really fair considering you did not know that you were not supposed to interact with
that person

Do you agree or disagree with temporary restraining orders?

REFORMATION AND
RESCISSION
 The remedy of reformation is granted when
a written agreement fails to express the actual
agreement, because of mistake, fraud or
ambiguous language
 The remedy of rescission is granted when
one of the parties consents to a contract,
because of being of duress, fraud, or
innocent misrepresentation
 This also occurs when both parties made a
mistake concerning the agreement
COURT OF CONSCIENCE
 A court of equity had always been considered
a court of conscience, because moral rights
take priority over precedent
 For example, a plaintiff may be denied relief
if they took part in the dispute
 A chancellor may also decline to enforce a
contract that is too unfair or one sided
 These do not exist anymore
SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE
 Specific performance is an equitable remedy
that is identified with a breach of contract
 Specific performance will only be granted
when there is a valid contract
 A plaintiff must be ready to perform his or
her obligations under the contract in order
to be entitled to specific performance
 There are many defenses that can be used by
defendants against specific performance
SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE
 Defenses Against Specific Performance
Defenses  Unclean Hands
 Whoever comes into equity must have clean hands
(no forgery or collusion)
 Hardship
 Hardship involves sharp practices where a
Equitable contract is too one-sided or where there is a
Other gross inadequacy of consideration
Maxim
 Laches
 As we saw in the last topic, laches is another
defense to prevent equitable remedies
 This defense entitles that a plaintiff’s
Unclean
Laches Hardship unreasonable delay caused harm to the plaintiff
Hands
RESTITUTION
 Restitution means restoration to the plaintiff
of property in the possession of the
defendant
 This restoration may be in specie, in which a
specific item is recovered from the plaintiff
 In other instances in specie is not suitable
 Then, the remedy must be substitutionary,
and the plaintiff is ordered to return the
plaintiff a money amount equal to the
item’s worth
DECLARATORY JUDGEMENT
 When someone seeks a judicial
determination of the rights and obligations
of the parties, that person is seeking the
remedy of a declaratory judgement
 A declaratory judgement is used to delay
the effect of a newly made law, until its
constitutionality is determined
 A declaratory judgement is considered both
an equitable and legal remedy
JURY TRIAL

In the end, if none of the other

methods of remedy work, then
the jury trial is the only solution
to solve a dispute