Damages for Harms to Real Property

This lesson deals with basic principles and measures of damages recoverable for harms to real property. The analysis to which students will be acquainted examines the harms in the context of three categories of interests to be protected by the law of damages. Those categories, which are separately treated in the lesson, are exclusive possession, physical integrity and use and enjoyment.

The student will be given an opportunity to apply the principles and measures to concrete situations, some of which will raise issues about whether the principles and measures work well to protect the interests under examination. The lesson assumes the student is familiar with basic concepts of damages and has completed the lesson of that title.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Explore how courts provide compensation to plaintiffs for harm to their real property.
2. Analyze the type of interest in the property that has been invaded by the defendant's harmful conduct and the extensiveness of the harm.
3. Consider the soundness of rules of damages in the various contexts.