Lane v. Holloway

3 W.L.R. 1003 (1967)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Lane (P), 64, was a gardener who lived in a court where Holloway (D) ran a cafe. The people in the court did not like the sound from the jukebox in the cafe. Customers also had a tendency to urinate in the court. D began to build some lavatories to alleviate that problem. On the night in question P and another neighbor were talking at 11 at night to which D’s wife called to them, “You bloody lot.” P said, “Shut up you monkey faced tart.” D got upset and confronted P. D, aged 23, asked P what he had told his wife, whereupon the plaintiff replied, 'I want to see you on your own,' thus implying a challenge to fight. D went out to P who, fearing a blow, struck D in a glancing blow on the shoulder. D thereupon struck P heavily on the eye, inflicting a severe wound which required substantial medical treatment. It appeared that D had struck P with a very hard object and not just his hand. P sued D and succeeded in the county court in an action for damages for assault, but the judge reduced the damages substantially in the light of P's provocative conduct. On appeal by P, held, allowing the appeal, that the damages ought not to have been reduced because of the plaintiff's conduct. (Fontin v. Katapodis 108 C.L.R. 177 applied).