Opinion ID: 763256
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Damages Under Lanham Act and State Defamation Law

Text: 23 The jury awarded damages of $500,000 against Hollenbeck and $1,700,000 against First American on the Lanham Act claim. It awarded general damages of $425,000 against Hollenbeck and $1,275,000 against First American on the defamation claim. These awards were based in substantial part on the two statements that we have found as a matter of law not to be actionable. The awards are not segregated in a manner that permits attribution of any portion of the damages to any particular statement. The first interruption of business of which Coastal complains, for example, was attributable to the statement that Coastal was operating without the necessary California license, but we have no way of knowing what part of the damages the jury imposed for that interruption. Nor do we know whether the jury imposed damages for the costs and losses arguably resulting from Coastal's affiliation with a California escrow agent, which occurred at least in part because of the statement regarding licensure. We are under the same disability with regard to all of the other items of possible damage; we cannot discern how much may have been attributable to the two statements that were not actionable. In these circumstances, we must reverse the judgment and remand for a new trial on the damages resulting from the actionable conduct of Hollenbeck and First American. See Maynard v. City of San Jose, 37 F.3d 1396, 1406 (9th Cir.1994); Farley Transp. Co. v. Santa Fe Trail Transp. Co., 786 F.2d 1342, 1352 (9th Cir.1985). 6