What damages means
Damages are compensation, measured in money.
When a contract is broken or a wrong is done, the usual remedy is not that somebody goes to prison or is forced to perform. It is that they pay. The court works out what position you would have been in had the wrong not happened, and awards the difference.
That is why a claimant who suffered no real loss often recovers very little even where the other side clearly breached. Being right and being compensated are different questions.
How it is used
In a Nigerian contract claim, the pleading usually distinguishes special damages, which are specific quantified losses, from general damages, which the court assesses at large.
The distinction has teeth. Special damages must be specifically pleaded and strictly proved with documents such as invoices, receipts and statements. Vague assertions about lost business do not survive. General damages are what the court considers the natural consequence of the wrong, and it has more latitude there.
Key features
- Compensatory in nature, aimed at restoring the injured party rather than punishing
- Special damages must be specifically pleaded and strictly proved
- General damages are assessed by the court as flowing naturally from the wrong
- Losses that are too remote are not recoverable
- The claimant has a duty to mitigate, meaning to take reasonable steps to limit the loss
How this works in Nigeria
Nigerian courts apply the common law framework, and are generally conservative on quantum. Claimants who arrive with large round numbers and no supporting documents are routinely disappointed.
What succeeds is arithmetic. Invoices, bank statements, correspondence showing the loss, and a clear explanation of how the breach caused the figure claimed. The claimant who can show their working almost always does better than the one who can only show their outrage.
General, special and liquidated damages
General damages are assessed by the court for losses that follow naturally from the wrong, without you having to itemise every naira.
Special damages are the itemised ones, and they must be pleaded specifically and proved strictly.
Liquidated damages are different again. They are a figure the parties agreed in advance in the contract as the compensation for a particular breach, such as a daily rate for late delivery. Where the figure is a genuine pre estimate of loss, courts enforce it. Where it is really a penalty designed to frighten the other side, it can be struck down.
Limits and risks
Damages cannot be recovered for losses that are too remote, meaning consequences neither party could reasonably have contemplated when contracting.
You also cannot recover what you could have avoided. If a supplier failed to deliver and you could have bought elsewhere at modest extra cost but chose to shut down for three months instead, the court will not compensate you for the three months.
Worth knowing
Special damages are lost more often on evidence than on law. Keep the invoices, the statements and the correspondence, because a claim you cannot document is a claim you cannot recover.