Opinion ID: 1439733
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: lost income

Text: Williams next alleges that there was an inadequate factual record to support the trial court's determination that Williams' withholding of the PEN-49 caused Eckert to lose $16,000 of net fishing income. He argues that the dearth of evidence in the record relative to this point prevents such damages from being ascertained with reasonable certainty. Eckert argues that there was adequate support in the record for a finding that he suffered $16,000 damages for the loss of use of his vessel. The following evidence regarding Eckert's lost income was presented to the court. Eckert filed the present claim and delivery action on June 8, 1979, and pursuant to an order for release of the vessel recovered the PEN-49 on or about June 22, 1979. He had the vessel repaired at a local cannery, got it back on June 30, 1979, and began fishing July 1, 1979. He further testified that everybody starts fishing approximately around the 15th of June, and had his boat been repaired in time, he could have gone fishing on the 15th of June. Eckert further testified that between July 1, 1979 and July 19, 1979 he only fished ten or eleven fishing periods because, after July 1, the canneries were glutted. He testified that during this period of salmon fishing he grossed $17,000. After his expenses and his partners' shares were deducted, his take was about $10,000. It is a well established principle of maritime law that lost fishing profits can be recovered. Jones v. Bender Welding and Machine Works, Inc., 581 F.2d 1331, 1337 (9th Cir.1978). The U.S. Supreme Court stated in an early and frequently cited case: That the loss of profits or of the use of a vessel pending repairs, or other detention, arising from a collision, or other maritime tort, and commonly spoken of as demurrage, is a proper element of damage, is too well settled both in England and America to be open to question. It is equally well settled ... that demurrage will only be allowed when profits have actually been, or may be reasonably supposed to have been, lost, and the amount of such profits is proved with reasonable certainty. The Conqueror, 166 U.S. 110, 125, 17 S.Ct. 510, 516, 41 L.Ed. 937, 944 (1896). Similarly, a number of cases have applied, or by implication recognized, the rule that in a replevin action loss of profits resulting from the wrongful detention of property may be recovered where they can be estimated with a reasonable degree of accuracy. See Annot; 48 A.L.R.2d 1053 (1956); Restatement (Second) of Torts § 931 (1979). Other courts in dealing with lost fishing profits have recognized the impossibility of mathematical precision in calculating such an award. In Reefer Queen Co. v. Marine Construction and Design Company, the court acknowledged: A measuring stick, whereby damages may be assessed within the demarcation of reasonable certainty, is sometimes difficult to find. Plaintiff must produce the best evidence available and ... if it is sufficient to afford a reasonable basis for estimating his loss, he is not to be denied a substantial recovery because the amount of the damage is incapable of exact ascertainment. 73 Wash.2d 774, 440 P.2d 448, 452-53 (1968), quoting Larsen v. Walton Plywood Co., Inc., 65 Wash.2d 1, 390 P.2d 677, 687 (1964). In Miller Industries, Inc. v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 473 F. Supp. 1147, 1156 (S.D.Ala. 1979), the court stated that although damages for lost fishing profits must be proved with reasonable certainty, this does not prevent the court from establishing the amount and value of the catch lost by plaintiff on the basis of such evidence as might reasonably be expected to be available under the circumstances. In Stanley v. Onetta Boat Works, Inc., 303 F. Supp. 99 (D.Or. 1969), the court used the plaintiff's catches during the period preceding its lost time to estimate its losses: The plaintiff's own catch during the periods when his vessel was not incapacitated requires a finding that the value of the use of his vessel was not less than $200.00 per day. This finding is supported by the records of catches of similar fishing vessels in the area during the same period of time and by the evidence in the record on the plaintiff's own catches. (emphasis added). Id. at 106. We have previously stated that while an award of lost profits cannot stand if it is the result of mere speculation, it is not necessary to prove it with exactness, so long as actual loss of profits is shown and there is a reasonable basis upon which to compute an award. City of Whittier v. Whittier Fuel & Marine Corp., 577 P.2d 216, 222 (Alaska 1978). We hold that the testimony of Eckert relative to the subsequent fishing periods, his gross profits, his net profits, and the prevailing conditions provided sufficient competent evidence to sustain the trial court's determination of damages. While the evidence here may be sparse, and evidence as to other catches in the area during the same time might have been helpful, we cannot say that the damages here are uncertain just because they cannot be exactly calculated. Undeniably, Williams' actions caused Eckert to lose some money. Other courts have recognized the justness of a liberal approach to estimating loss of profits where the difficulty in proving their amount is directly caused by the defendant's wrongdoing. In Pacific Steam Whaling Co. v. Alaska Packers' Ass'n, 138 Cal. 632, 72 P. 161 (1903), the defendants had wrongfully excluded the plaintiff from fishing salmon off the coast of Alaska. The jury determined that the plaintiff had suffered $14,000 in lost fishing profits, based upon the amount of fish the defendants had taken from the area and the testimony of the plaintiff as to the amount of fish it thought it would have caught had it not been for the defendants' actions. The court in sustaining the damage award stated: With respect to this kind of damage, of course, there cannot be the absolute certainty possible in many plainer cases; but a wrongdoer cannot entirely escape the consequences of his unlawful acts merely on account of the difficulty of proving damages. He can do so only where there is no possibility of a reasonably proximate estimation of such damages, which is not the fact in the case at bar. Id. 72 P. at 163. There is a possibility of a reasonably proximate estimation in the case before us. The evidence proffered by Eckert provided a reasonable basis for the trial court to compute the damages incurred as a result of Williams' wrongful detention of the PEN-49, and the award is therefore sustained.