Book Title: Civil Wrongs and Justice in Private Law

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Abstract: This chapter deals with damages in the context of tort law. In this case, the greater the loss, the larger the damages award. The chapter examines this fundamental commitment. It argues that it is unfair that someone wealthy, like Mick Jagger, would be owed greater compensation if he were negligently injured in a crash involving his luxury car than the average person would be if the roles were reversed. The chapter pursues a justification for the kind of consequential loss-based tort that would enable someone like Mick Jagger to be so compensated, but finds none. While the case is strong for fully compensating someone for negligently inflicted bodily injury insofar as everyone has a right of bodily integrity, the case for compensating someone for negligently caused lost wealth is weak for such compensation is neither essential to respecting bodily integrity nor does anyone have a moral obligation “to ensure that the wealthy remain wealthy.”