Q&As

Is there case law to support a defendant's assertion that a deduction in a claimant's loss of earnings claim has to be made in order to account for childcare costs which would have been payable had the claimant returned to full time work had the negligence not occurred? Alternatively, is there case law that does not support this argument?

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Published by a ÑÇÖÞÉ«ÇéÍø PI & Clinical Negligence expert
Published on: 07 June 2018
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Commentary: Earnings: Butterworths Personal injury Litigation Service [1303] states:

‘In order to comply with the 100% principle of compensation, credit must be given for any significant expenses that would have been incurred by the claimant had he remained working normally.’

You may find useful the case of Eagle v Chambers (No 2). In this case the claimant sought damages after being hit by a car driven by the defendant. The trial judge deducted 15% from the claimant's past loss of earnings claim to account for saved travelling expenses. The claimant argued that the deduction should not have been made relying on a passage in the

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United Kingdom
Key definition:
Earnings definition
What does Earnings mean?

The annual profits of a company after deduction of tax, dividends to preference shareholders and bondholders. Earnings are usually expressed on a per-share basis (eg 7p), and the earnings per share (EPS) figure is calculated by dividing total earnings by the average number of shares in issue for the relevant accounting period. For example, earnings of £2 million, with 10 million shares in issue would give an EPS of 20p. You may see earnings used in several ways: • reported earnings: the figure in the company’s accounts • underlying earnings: the figure derived from reported earnings by excluding any one-off items (eg profit from the sale of land which is not part of the company’s normal business) • diluted earnings: earnings after adjustment has been made for shares that may be issued in the future if holders of options, warrants and convertibles choose to exercise their rights.

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