One of the most common ways to protect civil rights is to collect damages. However, the person who applies to the court for damages must be prepared for the fact that the court will have to substantiate the damages with documents and mathematics. Let's take a closer look at how to do it correctly.
Instructions
Step 1
The concept of "losses" includes:
- real damage;
- lost profit. The following can be declared as real damage: a) expenses incurred by a person to restore his violated right; b) expenses that a person will have to incur in the future to restore his violated right; c) damage to property; d) loss of property. Already incurred expenses are confirmed by any documents available to the plaintiff, from which it is clear what kind of expense was made (for example, a contract, sales receipt, cash register receipt containing the name of the goods, etc.). For example, citizen A. was sold a product with hidden flaws: a washing machine that malfunctions during the washing process. The seller refused to accept any claims, citing the fact that the washing machine was out of order due to the buyer's fault. Then citizen A. turned to an expert to obtain an opinion on the cause of the defects in the washing machine, and received a conclusion that the washing machine had a manufacturing defect. Naturally, the examination is not carried out free of charge, and the amount paid for the examination is the expenses incurred to restore the violated right. In this case, in order to substantiate the real damage, Citizen A. must submit to the court an agreement for the examination and a payment document for which the examination was paid.
Step 2
As for expenses that have not yet been incurred by a person to restore his violated right, but will be incurred in the future, the need and the estimated amount of such expenses should be confirmed by a reasonable calculation and other evidence: an estimate or calculation of costs to eliminate defects in goods, works, services; an agreement that determines the amount of liability for violation of obligations, etc. This is evidenced by the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation N 6/8 of July 1, 1996. In case of damage (loss) of a thing, the market value of the thing is taken into account to determine the amount of losses. For some civil law relations, the legislation directly indicates how the value of the lost property is determined. So, in relation to the relationship of carriage of cargo or baggage, the cost of cargo or baggage is determined based on its price indicated in the seller's invoice or provided for by the contract, and in the absence of an invoice or price indication in the contract, based on the price that, under similar circumstances, is usually charged for identical goods … For used things, the residual value of the thing is determined, that is, the value of the thing, taking into account its wear and tear. This residual value can be determined by an expert or specialist appraiser. A document on the determination of the residual value of a thing is submitted to the court as evidence.
Step 3
Sometimes lost profits are also claimed as losses. Lost profits are understood to be non-earned income that a person whose right has been violated would have received under the normal conditions of civil turnover, if the right had not been violated. Note that in practice, lost profit is a difficult to prove type of loss. Plaintiffs are often under the misconception that lost profits can be justified speculatively, without concrete evidence. Of course, this is a mistake that will cost the refusal to satisfy the claim. As an example of a situation in which lost profits are recovered, we will cite the case recorded in the Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of November 4, 1997 No. 3924/97 and of May 15, 2000 No. 4163/99. Due to the fault of the energy supplying organization, an accident occurred in the power supply of the bakery. Bread baking stopped, so the bread was not sold, and as a result the bakery did not receive its usual income. The aforementioned joint Resolution of the Plenums of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court No. 68 establishes that the amount of lost income (lost profits) should be determined taking into account the reasonable costs that the person whose right was violated should have incurred if the obligation were fulfilled. In the aforementioned case with a bakery, the following should be considered as such reasonable costs: the cost of unused raw materials during the period of interruption in the supply of electricity; the cost of unpaid electricity for the period of stoppage in the supply of electricity, etc. These amounts will be deducted from the bakery's typical income for the same period, taking into account the documented decline in sales of bakery products in the period leading up to the bakery shutdown due to a power outage. Such evidence is presented by the defendant (power supply company) in order to reduce the amount of losses. In the event that the person who violated the right of another person received income as a result of such violation, the plaintiff has the right to equate the recovered loss of profits to the amount of such income. As a general rule, losses are subject to compensation. in full, unless a limited amount of compensation for damages is established for a specific case by law or contract. As an example of such a restriction, article 238 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation can be cited, according to which, in the event of material harm by an employee to the employer, the lost profit is not reimbursed.
