PROFITS FROM A BREACH OF CONTRACT

Attorney-General v Blake ([2000] 3 WLR 625)

The House of Lords in Attorney-General v Blake [2000] 3 WLR 625 dismissed the appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeal (see our April 1998 issue, pp1–3) and held that the defendant was liable to account for the profits which he had made from his breach of contract. While their Lordships affirmed that the assessment of damages on the basis of the gain made by the defendant from the breach of contract is very much the exception (especially in commercial cases), the reasoning of their Lordships differed in significant respects from the reasoning employed by the Court of Appeal.