Lewis v. The Australian Capital Territory

Lower Court Judgment

25/06/2019 Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory (Court of Appeal) (Elkaim, Loukas-Karlsson and Charlesworth JJ)

[2019] ACTCA 16

Catchwords

Torts – False imprisonment – Compensatory damages – Vindicatory damages – Principle of inevitability – Where offender sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment to be served by periodic detention – Where Sentence Administration Board (“Board”) cancelled periodic detention without giving offender opportunity to decide whether to attend before Board – Where offender arrested and imprisoned for 82 days – Where Board’s decision a nullity and imprisonment held to be unlawful – Where offender awarded nominal damages of $1 – Whether offender would have been lawfully imprisoned if had not been unlawfully imprisoned and therefore not entitled to substantial compensatory damages – Whether entitled to vindicatory damages.