KENDON PACKAGING LIMITED v KENDON PACKAGING LTD V GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY
Decision date: 1 July 2015
Neutral citation: [2015] UKUT 354 (LC)
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
This appeal concerned compensation claimed by Kendon Packaging Ltd after compulsory acquisition and relocation from Bow Paper Works to Innova Park, focusing on alleged lost customers, increased operating costs, management time, temporary losses and professional fees. The Tribunal rejected the lost-customers claim for lack of contemporaneous evidence, allowed a one-off estate road service-charge and partial awards for management time and temporary storage, discounted professional fees, and awarded total remaining compensation of £360,596. The decision was final once costs were agreed.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high
From the judgment: a claimant asserting disturbance losses must prove causation with contemporaneous evidence; claims for increased operating costs are recoverable only if the claimant had no realistic alternative and did not obtain value for money from the new premises; diversion of management time can give rise to compensation but assessment is fact-specific and may be limited to inferred salary-equivalent loss where disruption is established.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The Tribunal indicated that late-collected, non-contemporaneous customer confirmations have very limited weight, that modernisation benefits funded by acquisition can offset claims of increased costs by demonstrating value for money, and that use of multipliers to convert annual lost profits into business-value loss requires careful justification and may be inappropriate where customer churn or post-event gains exist.