Case Title: Paris v. Buckner Feed Mill, Inc.

Citation: 182 So. 2d 880

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1966-02-10T00:00:00Z

Document:
182 So. 2d 880 (1966)
Henry W. PARIS, Jr.
v.
BUCKNER FEED MILL, INC.
6 Div. 207.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
February 10, 1966.
Geo. E. Trawick, Birmingham, for appellant.
Nash, NeSmith & Walker, Oneonta, for appellee.
SIMPSON, Justice.
Buckner Feed Mill, Inc. sued Paris to recover $11,102.84 allegedly due from him by open account. The defendant Paris filed a plea of not indebted and a plea of set-off and recoupment against the plaintiff in the amount of $12,500. In this plea the defendant claimed that on or before July 1, 1959, the plaintiff had contracted and agreed with the defendant to furnish defendant with eggs for resale at a price to defendant equal to that of the posted New York mixed market price during the period of time that the flock of hens then owned by the defendant would be profitable layers, which period of time would have been from ten to twelve months, if the defendant would convey and transfer title to the flock of layers to the plaintiff in exchange for credit on the indebtedness which the defendant owed the plaintiff. The defendant further claimed that the plaintiff breached its agreement and that the breach caused the defendant to expend $500 over and above the previous cost in an effort to secure eggs from *881 several small producers and that the breach caused the defendant to pay out more than $2,000 over and above the market price to secure eggs from other sources. The defendant claimed that his inability to supply his customers with eggs depressed the value of his business in excess of $10,000, all caused by the failure of the plaintiff to live up to his agreement.
The cause proceeded to trial after which the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff and assessed damages at $6,602.84. Judgment was entered on the verdict and defendant, being dissatisfied with the amount awarded him under his plea of set-off and recoupment, brought this appeal.
During the course of the trial the appellant, in spite of his pleadings, testified that he had incurred out of pocket expenses of $4,500 as a result of the appellee's breach of the agreement between them. Evidently the jury believed this since the verdict returned was $6,602.84 in favor of plaintiff, being exactly $4,500 less than the amount sued for.
As we understand appellant's argument, he believes the court erred in sustaining objections to the following:
We gather that appellant believes himself injured in that he was not allowed to put in evidence the matter of loss of anticipated profits.
The general rule is stated at 25 C.J.S. Damages § 43, as follows:
Professor Corbin in his treatise on contracts (Corbin on Contracts, § 1022) defines the problem in these cases very succinctly:
In the instant case the appellant was allowed to prove and recovered the amount of expenses which he claimed he incurred as a result of the appellee's failure to furnish eggs to him for resale. He was permitted to show the additional cost of eggs to him and the resulting diminution of profit as a consequence of having to purchase eggs from producers other than appellee. He now wants to go farther and recover profits which he might have made in subsequent transactions with third persons had the appellee continued to furnish eggs to him. In this appellant would seem to be going too far and getting into the area of speculation and uncertainty recognized as such by most tribunals, including this court. We considered this problem in the early case of Brigham & Co. v. Carlisle, 78 Ala. 243, 56 Am.Rep. 28, and made the following observation:
The judgment appealed from is affirmed.
Affirmed.
LIVINGSTON, C. J., and MERRILL and HARWOOD, JJ., concur.