Opinion ID: 419602
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: damages for period after net ceased to be distributor

Text: 19 Plaintiff calculated damages, and the jury awarded them, on the basis of an annual 300 car shortage for five years. That period included three years after NET had ceased being the distributor and thus had ceased to have any contact whatever with plaintiff. We conclude that to the extent the award was based on the period after March 8, 1978, it cannot stand. Not only is evidence of damage during this period almost nonexistent, but it stands on a different footing from the overall theory of damages in terms of objection at trial. 20 In contrast to its silent acceptance of the introduction of evidence of plaintiff's general theory of damages, defendant did object to this aspect of plaintiff's proof. On the final day of the trial it moved that all testimony and exhibits introduced by the plaintiff relative to damages incurred subsequent to March 8, 1978 be stricken. The district judge denied the motion after brief oral argument at the close of evidence. Although the motion to strike might have been made earlier, see, e.g., Holden v. United States, 388 F.2d 240, 242-43 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 864, 89 S.Ct. 146, 21 L.Ed.2d 132 (1968), it was sufficiently timely to allow the trial judge to consider whether this evidence could go to the jury and to preserve NET's rights on appeal. 21 A plaintiff must establish that the defendant's conduct caused the injury of which it complains. E.g., Hangar One, Inc. v. Davis Associates, Inc., 121 N.H. 586, 590, 431 A.2d 792, 795 (1981). The link between misallocations by NET and those alleged to have occurred after NET left the picture is not obvious, for one would think that TMD, the new distributor, would be responsible for its own allocations. However, Edwards contends now, as it did to the jury, that because NET's willful misallocations reduced its sales, the allocation formula became skewed against it. As a result, incorrect allocations were built into the formula and continued long after NET was the one doing the allocating. 22 This theory is not necessarily implausible. Testimony at trial suggested that once a dealer's travel rate (i.e., his recent sales record) is depressed it may be difficult for him to regain his prior position. See also Ricky Smith Pontiac, Inc. v. Subaru of New England, Inc., 14 Mass.App. 396, 440 N.E.2d 29, 35 n. 9 (Mass.App.1982). Assuming that NET did short Edwards cars, the effects could conceivably have been felt after TMD took over the distributorship. However, no evidence was introduced to show that TMD used the same formula as NET. Indeed, the evidence relative to this period was simply insufficient for a rational jury to ascertain that the volume of cars Edwards then obtained constituted a misallocation relative to what other comparable dealers were receiving. Significantly, during TMD's distributorship, Edwards's sales steadily declined from the level they had reached during NET's distributorship, while, with the exception of 1979, its acceptance rate rose every year, reaching 100 percent in 1981. TMD was thus offering Edwards fewer and fewer cars. Something else was clearly at work during these years besides any residual misallocations from the NET period. In light of the declining sales and allocations, the likelihood that at some point the formula would recover from prior shortages, and the general paucity of meaningful information as to what was happening to other dealers and in the market, we think the jury could not supportably have concluded that Edwards had during these three years continued to be shorted to the extent of 300 cars annually due to prior misconduct of NET. 23 Even assuming the jury could supportably infer the existence of some residual damages, Edwards had an affirmative burden, as plaintiff, to introduce evidence from which their amount could be approximated. E.g., Kolb v. Goldring, Inc., 694 F.2d 869, 874 (1st Cir.1982); Grant v. Town of Newton, 117 N.H. 159, 162, 370 A.2d 285, 287 (1977). Instead, Edwards simply asked the jury to assume that the disparity between Dube and itself remained unchanged, that it was shorted 300 cars annually throughout this period, and that all this was somehow due to NET's prior wrongdoing. There is no evidence of what Dube's own actual allocations during this period were, nor does Edwards suggest any other benchmark against which its allocations can be evaluated. We think the claimed damages left, at this point, the realm of just and reasonable inference and entered that of pure speculation or guesswork. See Bigelow v. RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 327 U.S. 251, 264, 66 S.Ct. 574, 579, 90 L.Ed. 652 (1964). 24 Because the jury so clearly accepted plaintiff's damages calculations, the unjustified portion of the award is easily identified. There can be no dispute as to the amount of these damages: Edwards proved none. See generally 6A Moore's Federal Practice p 59.08 (1983). Calculation of the excess is mechanical. Prorating the 1978 total for the period after March 8 and adding that amount to the figures for 1979-1981 gives a sum of $951,387.16, which we round down to $950,000. Accordingly, we order the award of damages reduced by that amount. We remand to the district court for recalculation of prejudgment interest on the remaining sum, the damages being deemed to have occurred between April 1976 and March 8, 1978.