In Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v. Heller & Partners Ltd it was decided that people who make statements which they ought to have known were untrue because they were negligent, can in some circumstances, to restricted groups of claimants be liable to make compensation for any loss flowing, despite the decision in Derry v Peek.
Negligence and deceit differ with respect to remoteness of damages.
In deceit the defendant is liable for all losses flowing directly from the tort, whether they were foreseeable or not.
[5] In Doyle v. Olby (Ironmongers) Ltd, Lord Denning MR remarked, "it does not lie in the mouth of the fraudulent person to say that [such damages directly flowing from the fraudulent inducement] could not reasonably have been foreseen".
[6] So where there is a sudden downturn in the property market, a person guilty of deceitful misrepresentation is liable for all the claimant's losses, even if they have been increased by such an unanticipated event.