Opinion ID: 1349008
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Application of the Standard to the Present Facts

Text: Applying this standard to the facts before us, we find that Owner's proof failed to clear the reasonable certainty hurdle. Owner's projections of the profits lost by the restaurant because of the breach were based on nothing more than a sheet of paper reflecting the gross profits the restaurant made in the first 11 months of operation after construction was completed. These figures were not supplemented with corresponding figures for overhead or operating expenditures, but only with Owner's testimony that he would expect at least a third of that [gross figure] to be net profit. Owner's expectations, unsupported by any particular standard or fixed method for establishing net profits, were wholly insufficient to provide the jury with a basis for calculating profits lost with reasonable certainty. South Carolina Finance Corp., supra ; Mali v. Odom, supra . The trial judge erred in failing to rule that, as a matter of law, Owner's proof was insufficient to merit submission to the jury. The $14,000 award of lost profits must therefore be reversed.