Opinion ID: 1434583
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jury to assess damages

Text: The trial judge did not believe the tenant had sustained any damages by reason of the wrongful attachment. There was evidence to the effect that the tenants had made a profit during the five months immediately preceding the attachment amounting to approximately $15,000. The records were not complete, and a certified public accountant doing the best he could with what he had calculated the gross sales for the five-month period to be $136,000 and the net profit as stated above. The fact that a business has not been in operation long enough to have a history of profit or loss should not deprive one of the right to convince a jury, if he can do so, that he would have made a profit if his business had not been interfered with. In this particular case the jury might not have found a loss of profits occasioned by the wrongful attachment because the income tax return for the year showed a net loss. However, that does not necessarily mean that there would have been a loss had the wrongful attachment not been made. In any event, the jury should have been permitted to determine the amount of damage, if any, which may have been occasioned by any wrongful interference with the operation of the lawful business of the defendants. Where no books are kept in a simple business enterprise, an estimate of profits may be given by one who is experienced in the business. Graham Hotel Company v. Garrett, 33 S.W.2d 522 (Tex.Civ.App. 1930). In this case concrete data was given in evidence; and while the records were not sufficient to give the exact prior earnings, we think they were sufficient to enable the jury to infer the amount of damages, if any, which were occasioned by reason of the wrongful attachment and eviction, and thus to give a just verdict in the case. See McCormick on Damages, Hornbook Series, Sec. 229. There was also testimony that as soon as the salesmen for the tenants learned that there would be no material for jobs, [6] they quit. If the jury should conclude that the landlord acted maliciously in attaching some $15,000 worth of merchandise to secure a $348 payment and in connection therewith wrongfully evicted the tenants, they should be permitted to assess the damages, and the landlord is in a poor position to insist that the damages he caused must be proved to a mathematical certainty. Certainly the evidence was such as to sustain a finding that a going business was completely disrupted, if the jury chose to so find. The trial judge found that the actions of the landlord were not malicious, unlawful, or without probable cause, and concluded that punitive damages would not lie, although he awarded nominal damages for the wrongful attachment. The statutes of some states specifically make want of probable cause an element of a cause of action for wrongful attachment. Utah has no such statute, and we think one who wrongfully attaches property should respond for the mischief which he causes. We further think the court erred in not permitting the jury to determine whether or not the actions of the landlord were a mere subterfuge to dispossess the tenants and thus be unlawful and malicious under the evidence given in this case.