Opinion ID: 2605742
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: claims of error relating to damages

Text: Plaintiffs raise two claims of error relating to damages which merit brief discussion, since the rulings on which they are based may occur again upon retrial. West testified that she had fished on the same set net site for many years and she knew that it was comparable in productivity to those of her neighbors. She then sought to introduce the earnings of her neighbors during the 1977 fishing season, based on what they had told her, in an effort to prove her own lost earnings. This testimony was excluded on the basis of hearsay. We do not regard the court as having erred in so ruling. Plaintiffs characterize the court's ruling on this point as a general refusal to allow West to estimate her lost profits, but this interpretation does not square with those portions of the record to which we have been referred. We believe, however, that if West had been asked to testify as to an estimate of her lost 1977 earnings, such testimony could have been allowed if the estimate was based on her observations of the fish run and the magnitude of her neighbors' catches, her own experience fishing on the site, her participation in the 1977 fishery and her knowledge of how the lack of the scow interfered with her 1977 efforts. See City of Whittier v. Whittier Fuel & Marine Corp., 577 P.2d 216, 224 (Alaska 1978); Dowling Supply & Equipment Co. v. City of Anchorage, 490 P.2d 907, 909 (Alaska 1971). Another claim of error concerns lost revenues for the 1978 salmon season. The court ruled that 1978 lost revenues could not be considered by the jury because reasonable minds could not differ [that West] could have bailed that scow out of Whitney-Fidalgo's possession prior to the 1978 fishing season. We disagree for the reasons that follow. A plaintiff must make reasonable efforts to minimize damages. However, this duty does not extend to subjecting oneself to undue risk or expense. 11 S. Williston, Law of Contracts, § 1353 at 274 (Jaeger 3d Ed. 1968). See University of Alaska v. Chauvin, 521 P.2d 1234, 1240 (Alaska 1974). What is a reasonable effort is a question of fact as is undue risk or expense. However, almost any risk of considerable loss to the injured person if he attempts to mitigate damages should be considered undue; and though where a small pecuniary expense will obviously operate as a great diminution of loss, a failure to make the expenditure may result in diminishing the damages to which the plaintiff is entitled to the amount that would have been recoverable if the expenditure had been made, yet the expenditure must be small and the loss saved thereby certain and great in comparison. S. Williston, supra, at 277-78. Further, a plaintiff's lack of money to make a needed expenditure should be considered. Id. at 278. The burden of proving that the plaintiff has unreasonably failed to minimize damages falls upon the defendant. Chauvin, 521 P.2d at 1240. Whitney-Fidalgo contends that West could readily have obtained possession of the scow by posting a bond via a simple statutory procedure, AS 09.40.260 et seq. One difficulty with this argument is that the bond required under the statute must be for double the value of the property [13] and we have not been referred to any testimony concerning the value of the scow. Thus it is difficult to assess whether obtaining a bond would have been beyond West's means. The court's theory differed from Whitney-Fidalgo's. The court believed that West could have obtained the scow by posting a bond for the amount of the lien claim plus costs and attorney's fees. While ordering the release of the property pursuant to such a bond does not accord with AS 09.40.270, we have no occasion here to doubt the propriety of such an order. On and after July 22, 1977, Whitney-Fidalgo's possessory lien was $1,959.10. The evidence concerning West's financial status was that at one point in the summer of 1977 she had a bank account with a balance of $2,000.00. She owned a one-half interest in a home in Florida which was not mortgaged. The house had been assessed some years back at $17,000.00. West was a widow who supported herself by house cleaning and set net fishing. On this sparse record we believe that a question of fact was presented as to whether or not West unreasonably failed to obtain the release of the scow. The cash that she had in 1977 may have been needed for necessary living expenses. It is possible that she might have mortgaged the house in which she had a one-half interest in order to obtain the needed funds. Her ability to do so would probably be contingent on the consent of the co-owner. Assuming that such consent could have been obtained, not all reasonable people would necessarily conclude that the risk and expense of mortgaging were worth the loss to be saved. We have reviewed the other claims of error urged by the plaintiffs and find them to be without merit. REVERSED AND REMANDED.