The Commissioner for Complaints (Northern Ireland) Order 1996

Application for compensation by person aggrieved

16.—(1) Where on an investigation under this Order the Commissioner reports that a person aggrieved has sustained injustice in consequence of maladministration, the county court may, on an application by that person, by order award that person damages to be paid by the body concerned.

(2) An application to the county court under this Article shall be made in accordance with county court rules and upon notice to the body concerned.

(3) Damages awarded under this Article shall be such as the county court may think just in all the circumstances to compensate the person aggrieved for any loss or injury which he may have suffered on account of—

(a) expenses reasonably incurred by him in connection with the subject matter of the maladministration on which his complaint was founded; and

(b) his loss of opportunity of acquiring the benefit which he might reasonably be expected to have had but for such maladministration.

(4) In calculating the amount of damages to be awarded by virtue of paragraph (3)(b) the county court shall apply the same rule concerning the duty of a person to mitigate his loss as applies in relation to damages recoverable at common law.

(5) Where on an application to the county court under this Article it appears to the court that justice could only be done to the person aggrieved by directing the body concerned to take, or refrain from taking, any particular action, the court may, if satisfied that in all the circumstances it is reasonable to do so, make an order containing P such a direction.

(6) Where an order under paragraph (5) is duly served on the body concerned, disobedience to that order by that body or any member or officer of that body may be treated as a contempt of court to which Article 55 of the [1980 NI 3.] County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 applies.

(7) Without prejudice to Articles 61 and 65 of that Order, the body concerned or person aggrieved may, if dissatisfied with an order of the county court under this Article, appeal from that order as if it had been made in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred by Part III of that Order and the appeal were brought under Article 60 of that Order.

(9) The powers conferred on a county court by this Article may be exercised notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any statutory provision which imposes limitations on its jurisdiction by reference to an amount claimed or to the value of property.