Cases - Jackson v Royal Bank of Scotland

Record details

Name

Jackson v Royal Bank of Scotland

Date

[2005]

Citation

(HL, 2005)

Keywords

Construction – litigation – loss and expenses – breach of contract – damages – measure of damages – loss of profit – remoteness – foreseeability

Summary

Jackson specialised in importing goods from the Far East. One such arrangement found them importing dog chews on behalf of an English client supplied from a supplier in Taiwan. All of the parties knew the identity of each other but none knew how much profit each was making from the arrangements. The English client would pay Jackson via a letter of credit from RBS and Jackson would pay the supplier.

This arrangement continued for some time until the bank, mistakenly, disclosed to the English client the amount that Jackson was paying to the Taiwan supplier and therefore the mark-up that Jackson was making on the arrangement. The English client immediately terminated the arrangement with Jackson and sourced the dog chews directly from Taiwan.

Jackson sued the bank claiming loss of profit for 4 years' worth of transactions.

The House of Lords concluded that Jackson 's loss was not too remote (a reasonable person would have concluded that a loss of this type was a serious possibility or a real danger as a result of the incorrect disclosure of confidential information) and therefore allowed Jackson 's claim.