Opinion ID: 406814
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Disaggregation of Damage Sum

Text: 51 Monsanto claims that the evidence is insufficient to support the $3,500,000 verdict because Spray-Rite failed to prove how much damage was caused by each of the challenged Monsanto practices. Monsanto claims that an antitrust plaintiff bears the burden of disaggregating its damage sum and proving the amount of damage attributable to each of the defendant's challenged business practices. 52 The plaintiff bears the burden of proving the amount of damage suffered as a result of the defendant's unlawful conduct. Story Parchment Co. v. Paterson Parchment Paper Co., 282 U.S. 555, 561-66, 51 S.Ct. 248, 250, 75 L.Ed. 544 (1931). There are, however, practicable limits to the scope of this burden. Zenith Radio Corp. v. Hazeltine Research, 395 U.S. 100, 123-24, 89 S.Ct. 1562, 1576, 23 L.Ed.2d 129 (1969). Because a plaintiff can seldom prove the exact amount of antitrust damages, he may sustain his burden with circumstantial evidence and estimates of damage based on reasonable assumptions. Locklin v. Day-Glo Color Corp., 429 F.2d 873, 879 (7th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 1020, 91 S.Ct. 582, 27 L.Ed.2d 632 (1971). 53 Any other rule would enable the wrongdoer to profit by his wrongdoing at the expense of his victim. It would be an inducement to make wrongdoing so effective and complete in every case as to preclude any recovery, by rendering the measure of damages uncertain. Failure to apply it would mean that the more grievous the wrong done, the less likelihood there would be of a recovery. 54 Bigelow v. RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 327 U.S. 251, 264-65, 66 S.Ct. 574, 579, 90 L.Ed. 652 (1946). 55 Dr. Ozanne testified that three factors combined to cause Spray-Rite's damages: (1) Monsanto's termination of the Spray-Rite distributorship; (2) Monsanto's post-termination marketing programs, including the compensation and technical programs, and (3) Monsanto's post-termination marketing policies, including Monsanto's assigned areas of primary responsibility and delivery policies. He testified that it would be very difficult to apportion the amount of damage caused by each of these factors because these things merge together and interact among themselves. Tr. at 2897. Monsanto did not present any evidence refuting Dr. Ozanne's conclusions. 56 A plaintiff claiming injury caused by more than one of the defendant's unlawful practices need not prove the amount of damage caused by each illegal practice if the plaintiff shows that disaggregation is impracticable. If the plaintiff shows that such proof is impracticable, the burden shifts to the defendant to demonstrate the contrary. Greene v. General Foods Corp., 517 F.2d 635, 665 (5th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 942, 96 S.Ct. 1409, 47 L.Ed.2d 348 (1976); ILC Peripherals Leasing Corp. v. IBM Corp., 458 F.Supp. 423, 434 (N.D.Cal.1978), aff'd sub nom. Memorex Corp. v. IBM Corp., 636 F.2d 1188 (9th Cir. 1980) (per curiam), cert. denied, 452 U.S. 972, 101 S.Ct. 3126, 69 L.Ed.2d 983 (1981). Any other rule would permit the defendant to escape compensating the plaintiff if the defendant's wrongful conduct were sufficiently varied and effective to render more exact proof of damage impossible. (A) defendant whose wrongful conduct has rendered difficult the ascertainment of precise damages suffered by the plaintiff is not entitled to complain that they cannot be measured with the same exactness and precision as would otherwise be possible. Trabert & Hoeffer, Inc. v. Piaget Watch Corp., 633 F.2d 477, 484 (7th Cir. 1980). Spray-Rite sustained its burden by proving that disaggregation was impracticable; Monsanto failed to rebut Spray-Rite's evidence by showing that disaggregation was indeed possible. 57 Monsanto argues that we ought to reverse the jury verdict because the second interrogatory indicates that the jury may not have found that the illegal conspiracy included Monsanto's compensation programs and its areas of primary responsibility and its shipping policy. 12 Assuming that the jury did not find all three practices part of the conspiracy, Monsanto alleges that the jury verdict awarding the total aggregated damage amount requires Monsanto to compensate Spray-Rite for lost profits caused by Monsanto's lawful competition. 58 The only damage evidence introduced at trial established that it was impracticable to disaggregate the damage sum and apportion the amount of damage caused by each of Monsanto's business practices. Because the jury responded yes to the second interrogatory, it found at least one of the named practices-the compensation programs, the areas of primary responsibility, or the shipping policy-part of the unlawful resale price maintenance scheme. Clearly, Spray-Rite is entitled to recover the lost profits caused by Monsanto's anticompetitive business practices. We will not deprive Spray-Rite of this recovery merely because the jury may have found that Monsanto combined lawful conduct with unlawful conduct making it impossible to determine which portion of the total damages was caused by the unlawful conduct. Trabert & Hoeffer, Inc. v. Piaget Watch Corp., 633 F.2d at 484. 13 59 Finally, Monsanto argues that the jury verdict must be reversed because it is excessive. The only evidence at trial concerning the amount of damage was Dr. Ozanne's testimony that Spray-Rite suffered $3,327,588 damage. The jury awarded Spray-Rite $3,500,000. We agree with Monsanto that $172,412 of the verdict is excessive. Alover Distributors, Inc. v. Kroger Co., 513 F.2d 1137, 1141-42 (7th Cir. 1975). Reversal is unnecessary, however, if Spray-Rite will accept a remittitur of $172,412. If Spray-Rite will consent to the remittitur, the judgment shall be reduced to $3,327,588 and this reduced judgment will be affirmed. If Spray-Rite refuses to accept the remittitur, the judgment will be reversed and the case remanded for a new trial on the question of the amount of damages. Id.