First Principles of Business Law

3. Compensatory damages for personal injury

3.1.b.4. Damages for 'loss of amenities'

Read the facts below and then answer the question.

A, the coach of top ranking football player B, constructs a new training apparatus and tells B to use it. The apparatus is poorly constructed and collapses while B is using it, injuring his spine so severely that B falls into a permanent coma and will never play any sport again. Among other claims, B's lawyer intends to sue A for a large sum to compensate B for the loss of his ability to play sport.

Which of the alternatives below most accurately reflects the current common law?

(a) Loss of the ability to play sport is a loss of amenities but, in Australia, damages under this head compensate for the realisation of the loss. An unconscious plaintiff cannot recover substantial damages for loss of amenities.

(b) Loss of the ability to play sport is a loss of amenities and, in Australia, damages under this head are calculated objectively. This means that even an unconscious plaintiff can recover substantial damages for loss of amenities.