Trinity Chambers Commercial and Chancery Barrister, David Comb has secured a remedy of rescission and damages, following a successful trial for the mis-selling of domestic solar panels under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
Significantly, the Designated Civil Judge trying the case distinguished Hodgson v Creation Consumer Finance Ltd [2021] EWHC 2167 (Comm) and applied Salt v Stratstone Specialist Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 745.
The practical importance of the decision is that upon an application of the ‘Hodgson Formula ’ the claimant would have been unable to show loss. However, the Court confirmed that rescission is the normal remedy for misrepresentation (a point that was not fully argued in Hodgson) and that the remedy should only be withheld if equity demanded it.
The Court in so holding considered and rejected arguments advanced by the lender in relation to delay/affirmation, ‘impossibility’, and ‘profit’. Accordingly, the Court ordered removal of the solar panels at the lender’s expense, together with restitution of the sums paid under the credit agreement, less the benefits derived to date from the panels calculated in accordance with the Hodgson formula.