The decision in Coventry v Lawrence cannot be ignored, says Andrew Francis
On 26 February 2014 the Supreme Court gave judgment in the case of Coventry v Lawrence [2014] UKSC 13, [2014] All ER (D) 245 (Feb). That was a noise nuisance case. The claimants lived near the defendants’ speedway track in Suffolk. At first instance an injunction was granted on terms that limited the activities on the defendants’ track. On appeal the Court of Appeal said that the proper remedy was damages. The claimants appealed to the Supreme Court.
The decision of the Supreme Court
The judgments of the court are complex and some of them are long. The issues for the Supreme Court were; first, whether it is possible to acquire a prescriptive right to do something which would otherwise be a private nuisance; second, whether it is a defence to a nuisance claim to say that the claimant has “come to the nuisance” (for example by acquiring or occupying property after the nuisance has started); third, how far the defendants’ own activities alleged to constitute a nuisance are irrelevant in the assessment
