Remedies

The amount of compensation when goods are damaged1 is the subject of Article 25.1:

Some courts have quantified compensation for damage on the basis of the cost of repair:2 an error, as Article 25.1 refers only to the amount by which the goods have diminished in value.3 Nevertheless, the court may take account of the cost of mitigation because under Article 25.1 the ‘‘value’’ is fixed not only ‘‘in accordance with Article 23 paragraphs 1, 2’’, market value, but also Article 23 paragraph 4, which allows the recovery of ‘‘charges incurred in respect of the carriage of the goods’’.4 The inference is that the cost of mitigation is not a separate head of recovery under Article 23.4 but an element in an award under Article 25.1: effective salvage mitigates loss in market value which would otherwise occur5 and it is ‘‘part of the cost of realising the damaged value of the goods’’.6