Opinion ID: 195970
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Future Profits

Text: 29 Four Corners insists that the district court simply ignored its claim to $171,290 in future lost profits. See Thompson v. Kerr-McGee Ref. Corp., 660 F.2d 1380, 1388 (10th Cir.1981) (future lost profits recoverable under PMPA), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1019, 102 S.Ct. 1716, 72 L.Ed.2d 137 (1982); cf. Wallace Motor Sales, Inc. v. American Motor Sales Corp., 780 F.2d 1049, 1062 (1st Cir.1985) (automobile dealership entitled to claim damages for lost profits over projected life span of franchise). Although Four Corners would incur these damages in each future year because the gallonage caps would continue to outstrip Four Corners' actual sales of Exxon gasoline, or its projected sales of Mobil gasoline, until 1998, this claim too is flawed. 30 In truth, the district court was fully cognizant of Four Corners' claim for future profits, as it explicitly acknowledged in its opinion. See Four Corners II, slip op. at 3. Moreover, the record evidence discloses that there was little likelihood that Four Corners could have remained in business until 1998. Furthermore, there were serious deficiencies in its forecasts of future lost profits. See Levy v. FDIC, 7 F.3d 1054, 1056 (1st Cir.1993) (appellate court is free to affirm on any ground supported by record). 31 Four Corners extrapolated its estimates of future lost profits based on its performance during the two years immediately preceding trial; that is, it assumed that Mobil's refusal to renew its franchise was alone responsible for the dismal profit picture during the time Four Corners was in serious financial straits and selling Exxon gasoline. 5 During the first quarter of 1993 alone, Four Corners lost $47,754, compared with a $107,154 net profit in 1990, this notwithstanding the infusion of approximately $215,000 in profits and interest income which could not have been realized but for Mobil's termination of the franchise in 1988. See supra note 4. Thus, Four Corners projected continued future business operations despite such severe losses as would make its prospects for continued operation until 1998 highly speculative. See Midwest Petroleum Co., 644 F.Supp. at 1070 (To warrant a recovery of lost profits, the [franchisee] must present proof sufficient to bring the issue outside the realm of conjecture, speculation or opinion unfounded on definite facts.). 32 Finally, even if Four Corners had been able to continue in business until 1998, its claim to $171,000 in future lost profits would be groundless given the record evidence that it had already realized an aggregate net increase in profits and interest approximating $215,000 during the five-year period immediately prior to trial. See supra note 4. Accordingly, even if the district court had allowed all speculative lost future profits claimed, Four Corners still would have realized approximately $44,000 in aggregate net profits ($215,000 net increased profits, less $177,000 future profits) during the projected ten-year life span of the franchise following Mobil's wrongful refusal to renew.