Workers Trust and Merchant Bank Ltd v Dojap Investments Ltd
Workers Trust and Merchant Bank Ltd v Dojap Investments Ltd | |
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Court | Judicial Committee of the Privy Council |
Citation(s) | [1993] UKPC 7, [1993] AC 573, [1993] 2 All ER 370 |
Case history | |
Prior action(s) | Court of Appeal of Jamaica |
Keywords | |
Contract, remedies |
Workers Trust and Merchant Bank Ltd v Dojap Investments Ltd [1993] UKPC 7 is a contract law case of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, on appeal from the Court of Appeal of Jamaica. The case concerns the dividing line between a penal requirement for a deposit and liquidated damages.
Facts[]
A contract for buying a house said time was of the essence. The sellers said the 25% deposit was forfeit after the buyers failed to pay the balance in 14 days as the contract required. The buyers tried to send the balance in a week later with interest. The deposit was a Jamaican $3m.
Judgment[]
The Privy Council advised that the sellers could not retain the deposit, and must return, subtracting any loss they could prove they suffered. Lord Browne-Wilkinson said it was "not possible for the parties to attach the incidents of a deposit to the payment of a sum of money unless such sum is reasonable as earnest money." A reasonable deposit would be 10 per cent, and if higher the seller "must show special circumstances which justify such a deposit." This was so even though 10 per cent in itself was "without logic", but it was a good benchmark.
See also[]
Notes[]
References[]
- Contract case law
- Judicial Committee of the Privy Council cases on appeal from Jamaica
- 1993 in British law
- 1993 in Jamaica
- 1993 in case law