Opinion ID: 2189284
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: damages for illegal eviction

Text: [¶ 5] The remedy for illegal eviction is the greater of actual damages or $250. [1] 14 M.R.S.A. § 6014(2)(A) (2003). The parties concede that the jury's damage award for illegal eviction mirrors Reardon's claim that he spent $22,000 remodeling the property to make it suitable for his restaurant business, and the evidentiary record amply supports the fact that Reardon spent approximately $22,000 on renovating the leased premises. [¶ 6] Section 6014 declares evictions effected without resort to the provisions of Chapter 709 of Title 14 to be illegal and against public policy. 14 M.R.S.A. § 6014(1) (2003). Once an illegal eviction is established, a court may award $250 or actual damages. 14 M.R.S.A. § 6014(2) (2003). This statutorily created cause of action is distinct from the common law cause of action for wrongful eviction, a breach of contract action, which arises when a landlord breaches the terms of a lease. The question, then, is whether costs incurred by Reardon in renovating the leased premises may properly be the basis for a jury's determination of his actual damages resulting from the illegal eviction. [¶ 7] Although section 6014 does not define actual damages, the term can fairly be read to be an amount that will compensate a tenant for his loss sustained as a result of a landlord's violation of the eviction statute. [2] [¶ 8] Expenses incurred by Reardon in renovating the premises were not a proper basis to support the jury award of damages on the illegal eviction claim. Accordingly, renovation expenditures incurred by Reardon are not evidence of the actual damages sustained as a result of an illegal eviction. To recover more than $250 for the illegal eviction, Reardon had the burden of establishing his actual damages. Lost profits, lost goods, such as food, and the benefits of lost services, such as advertising, are examples of losses that may constitute actual damages. The costs for renovations, which, according to the lease, remain with the premises, are not recoverable as actual damages, although the loss of the benefit of the renovations may be recoverable. In order to be recoverable, damages must not be uncertain or speculative, but must be grounded on facts and evidence. See King v. King, 507 A.2d 1057, 1059 (Me.1986). Although damages need not be proved to a mathematical certainty, some evidence of the amount of the loss sustained must support an award. Id. at 1060. Here the parties agree that the damages of $22,000 were based on the costs of improvement, a measure of damage not allowable on this claim. It must, therefore, be set aside.