Impecuniosity and Failure to Mitigate - Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers
08/04/14. The Court of Appeal has not lost its ability to surprise in credit hire cases. In Zurich Insurance Plc v Umerji [2014] EWCA Civ 357, it had to grapple with the reasonableness of a substantial credit hire claim. Its judgment contains vital practical guidance about the meaning of a debarring order in relation to impecuniosity and some significant discussion about mitigation in credit hire case more generally.
The Decision
The facts will be familiar from many credit hire cases. The Claimant’s vehicle, which was worth around £8,000, was damaged in a road traffic accident on 19 October 2010. He hired a replacement vehicle the following day. His vehicle was inspected by an engineer instructed on his behalf on 3 November 2010 and declared uneconomical to repair. The report was finally sent to the Defendant in January 2011. Having heard nothing from the Defendant, the Claimant took his vehicle out of storage and scrapped it on 22 February 2011. But the Claimant remained in hire until 2 June 2012, a period of 591 days, because he said that he could not afford to buy a replacement. The hire charges totalled £95,130.14, which the Court of Appeal described as...
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