Opinion ID: 2010977
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rental expense.

Text: Since plaintiff conceded that he was unable to prove any loss of profits as a result of the temporary restraining order, defendants argue that the award of $241 for rental expense cannot be sustained because rental expense is an item which must be deducted from gross income to compute profits, and hence it cannot be recovered unless loss of profits can be shown. Stated differently, what defendants argue is that Chem Tech would have incurred this expense whether or not the restraining order was in effect, and since plaintiff cannot prove that Chem Tech would have had any income with which to offset this expense had the restraining order not been issued, it cannot fairly be said that the restraining order was the proximate cause of this loss. This argument has considerable logical appeal, but so far as we are aware, no authoritative support. There is no dispute that this was an actual out-of-pocket expense. Chem Tech had a 1-year lease of the premises which required monthly rental payments. There was no way to avoid making these payments without risking loss of possession and jeopardizing the hope of resuming operations after a hearing on the restraining order. In Wood v. State, 66 Md. 61, 5 A. 476, plaintiff was enjoined from moving his sawmill to another state. Six weeks later the injunction was dissolved. Plaintiff was permitted to recover for the salaries paid to persons under contract for the period during which he was restrained from moving the mill. These salary expenses are closely analogous to rental expenses in this case. [3] Although a recovery of both rental expense and loss of profits during the period of imposed suspended operations would be clearly impermissible, we are not convinced that recovery of this item should be denied. The award is less than the amount paid by Chem Tech under the lease in recognition that some beneficial use was made of the leased premises. Further, in recognition of plaintiff's duty to mitigate damages, he did not pursue his claim for any other out-of-pocket expense. It would appear to be unjust to deny a right to recover this expense which this business enterprise in its formative stages was contractually bound to pay during the period the jury justifiably found it was, without fault on the part of the organizers, denied the full beneficial use of the plant while taking steps to mitigate damages.