Opinion ID: 451934
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Lost Officers' Salaries.

Text: 40 The jury awarded Cashman $24,000 in damages for the time spent by two of its officers in seeking compliance with the contract with Allied. The district court granted Allied's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict concerning these damages. It held that the law requires a finding that some portion of Cashman Seed's officers' salaries would not have been paid out but for the breach of contract or warranties by defendants, citing Wilson v. Marquette Electronics, Inc., 630 F.2d 575, 585-86 (8th Cir.1980), and that there had been no such showing. 41 Cashman cites a Minnesota case, Indianhead Truck Line, Inc. v. Hvidsten Transport, Inc., 268 Minn. 176, 128 N.W.2d 334, 348 (1964), affirming a trial court's award of $8,093 in miscellaneous expenses which included time spent by officers in seeking consummation of the contract. We find Indianhead distinguishable, and thus affirm the district court's decision here. In Indianhead, the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed a few thousand dollars for officers' time spent on contract compliance, but reversed the trial court's award of $311,120 for lost profits. The court also expressly stated that the award for lost time was proper under the circumstances here involved. Id. 42 In this case, we have affirmed an award for lost profits, and absent any showing that Cashman's officers' salaries would not have been the same but for defendant's conduct, we conclude that the district court's decision was not clearly erroneous. Here, Cashman is fully compensated for all of the profits it would have made while having paid the same salaries to its officers. 43