Appeals Court reduces damages awarded over Portomaso development

The Court of Appeal has substantially reduced damages awarded against the developers of the Portomaso Complex.

This judgment was delivered following an appeal filed by the developer, Spinola Development Co Ltd (SDC) from a judgment of the First Hall of the Civil Court which had ordered the company to pay more than Lm14,000 (€32,611.23) in damages to Joanna Briffa.

Ms Briffa, the owner of a house in Spinola Road, St Julians, had claimed that she had suffered structural damages and loss of rental income as a result of the development of the Portomaso Complex.

In its appeal, SDC alleged that the first court had completely ignored the fact that Ms Briffa had not produced any evidence of loss of income, nor had she proven that the company was responsible for the damages she had sustained.

Moreover, the fact that it had carried out development works did not render it liable for Ms Briffa's alleged loss of income. SDC added that it had always abided by the building regulations imposed upon it and had not exceeded the sound level when it had carried out blasting works.

The Court of Appeal noted that the first court had concluded that the direct cause of the damages suffered by Ms Briffa was the construction works carried out by the company. Although the company claimed that it could not be held liable in damages because it had always abided by building regulations, SDC was still liable for the damage which occurred through its fault.

However, it concluded that the Lm14,400 awarded to Ms Briffa in damages was an exaggerated sum. Ms Briffa, the court ruled, was responsible for half the damages she had sustained as she had not taken action to lease out her property during this period.

The Court of Appeal therefore found in favour of SDC and reduced the damages payable to Ms Briffa for loss of rental income to Lm3,000 (€6,988.12).