Smith New Court Ltd v Scrimgeour Vickers (Asset Management) Ltd [1996] UKHL 3 is an English contract law case concerning misrepresentation.
The Court of Appeal awarded £1,196,010 in damages to reflect the difference between what was paid and the market value at the date of purchase.
Smith were in a special sense locked into the shares…Lord Steyn asked, whether there is a justification for differentiating between the extent of liability for civil wrongs depending on where in the sliding scale from strict liability to intentional wrongdoing the particular civil wrong fits in.
It may be said that logical symmetry and a policy of not punishing intentional wrongdoers by civil remedies favour a uniform rule.
On the other hand, it is a rational and defensible strategy to impose wider liability on an intentional wrongdoer… as between the fraudster and the innocent party, moral considerations militate in favour of requiring the fraudster to bear the risk of misfortunes directly caused by his fraud.