Ramzan v Brookwide Ltd [2010] EWHC 2453 (Ch), [2010] All ER (D) 29 (Nov)
In respect of a claim for damages for the continuing (and continuous) infringement of the right to enjoy the use of property, the proper starting point in the assessment of damages in lieu was the value of the land encroached upon, and the degree to which the piece of land encroached upon had enhanced the amenities of the trespasser in question.
The proper question to ask was how much an owner could reasonably have sought from a trespasser for the land wrongly incorporated into its property.
In a case in which exemplary damages were appropriate, a jury should be directed that if, but only if, the sum which it had in mind to award as compensation was inadequate to punish a defendant for his outrageous conduct, to mark their disapproval of such conduct and to deter him from repeating it, then it could award some larger sum.
