Aggravated damages claims must be supported by evidence of increased injury

The EAT has considered the basis upon which aggravated damages claims can be successfully advanced in Khans Solicitors v Kaiser.

Claims for aggravated damages seem to be ‘tagged’ on to the bottom of so many ET1 claim forms these days. However, in over 25 years at the Bar, I have never seen a successful claim of this sort.

In Khans, the tribunal awarded the successful Claimant large amounts of money on his primary claims and added £5,000 for aggravated damages for good measure.

The EAT found that the tribunal had failed to direct itself to the central requirement that any aggravating factor must have caused increased injury over and above the, already compensated, injury to feelings award.

The tribunal made no finding of increased injury at all, and its reliance on the respondent’s status as a law firm as an aggravating factor sounded punitive, which was not a permissible basis to award aggravated damages.