In damage to land cases, loss of opportunity damages are not ordinarily available as a substitute for diminution in value or cost of reinstatement, though the possibility is not excluded in exceptional circumstances such as where the plaintiff has special value in the land, remediation is impossible, and no comparable properties are available. Where loss of opportunity is established, the risk of overcompensation cannot justify rejecting that measure across the board, but the reliability of the assessment compared to diminution in value is a legitimate consideration. A plaintiff claiming loss of opportunity must establish on the balance of probabilities both the existence of a valuable opportunity and that the defendant's breach was causative of its loss; the question of whether the opportunity would have been realised is then assessed according to probabilities and possibilities.
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