ABSTRACT
The fi rst group of cases concerns the position of the defendant. The court may consider, in the light of all the circumstances, that his position was such that it would not be just to make the defendant pay interest from the date of the loss. It may do so if, for example the circumstances were such that the defendant neither knew, nor reasonably could have been expected to know, that the plaintiff was likely to make a claim, and so was in no position either to tender payment, or even to make provision for payment if the money should be found due. In such a case, the court may in its discretion only grant interest from the date of the plaintiff ’s claim, or even from such date as will allow reasonable investigation of the claim. Again, to quote from Lord Wilberforce’s speech in the Firestone case,15 at 836: ‘In a commercial setting, it would be proper to take account of the manner in which and the time at which persons acting honestly and reasonably would pay.’
