What is the adequacy of damages assessed under the counterclaim?

Before turning to the adequacy of damages assessed under the counterclaim, it is useful to refer to the law governing the degree and certainty of proof necessary to establish damages. Bowden, L.J., in Ratcliffe v. Evans, [1892] 2 Q.B. 524, dealt with certainty of proof of damages at pp. 552-553: "In all actions accordingly on the case where the damage actually done is the gist of the action, the character of the acts themselves which produce the damage, and the circumstances under which these acts are done, must regulate the degree of certainty and particularity with which the damage done ought to be stated and proved. As much certainty and particularity must be insisted on, both in pleading and in proof of damage, as is reasonable, having regard to the circumstances and to the nature of the acts themselves by which the damage is done. To insist upon less would be to relax old and intelligible principles. To insist upon more would be the vainest pedantry."