Robert Weir reports on the complex world of nuisance and HRA damages
'It is only those with a legal interest in property who were entitled to claim nuisance damages'
The Mogden Sewage Treatment Works has generated not just some pretty nasty smells and infestation of mosquitoes but also some difficult litigation involving the interplay between nuisance damages and damages under the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998). In Dobson and others v Th ames Water Utilities Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 28 the Court of Appeal explained how damages in nuisance should be assessed and the impact of such an assessment on claims for damages for breach of Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, brought by those not entitled to claim in nuisance.
The issue and how it arose
The residents in the group action brought against Th ames Water Utilities Ltd divided into those who owned or rented their properties and those who did not. The signifi cance of this distinction was that it is only those with a legal interest in property, about
