Opinion ID: 1388158
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: There was sufficient evidence to submit to the jury the question whether plaintiffs had been damaged.

Text: Plaintiffs' complaint alleged the following damages: (1) loss of future profits of $9,500; (2) loss of compensation in the sum of $30,263; and (3) loss of good will in the sum of $25,000. The trial court withdrew the claim of loss of future profits, but submitted to the jury the remaining two claims. In support of defendant's assignment of error arising from the denial of its motions for a nonsuit and a directed verdict defendant contends that although plaintiffs' claim for loss of future profits was withdrawn from the jury, the trial court erred in submitting to the jury plaintiffs' claim for loss of compensation because:    Whether this money is called compensation or profits in essence it amounts to the same thing because the store would have had to make a profit before it could have paid compensation to the plaintiffs for their services.    Defendant also contends that: The plaintiffs failed to prove that their business had a history of profitable operations and, therefore, could not show with a reasonable degree of certainty any lost future profits; The plaintiffs failed to prove with reasonable certainty that their business had the necessary ingredients of good will. As authority to support these contentions defendant relies primarily upon our decision in Buck v. Mueller, 221 Or. 271, 282-283, 351 P.2d 61, 67 (1960), in which we said:    Plaintiff's proof of loss must meet the test of `reasonable certainty,'    the loss of profits must not be uncertain and speculative.    Past profits may be shown if they reflect the operation of an established business. [Citing cases] If the business has not operated long enough to establish a reliable record of profits, the jury will not be permitted to speculate upon the probable success of the particular business alleged to have been harmed. [Citing cases] Defendant also cites our subsequent decisions to the same general effect and says that plaintiffs' grocery store had been in business for only two years and had not established a reliable record of profits, as demonstrated by the fact that plaintiffs' net income for 1967 was $2,095.14, and for the year 1968 it suffered a loss of $2,676.40 (not including $1,200 in unreported accounts receivable at the end of 1968), and that these figures did not consider the value of plaintiffs' services. Defendant also contends that the testimony of plaintiffs' expert witness, based upon a projection of the increase in monthly income prior to August 1968, was nothing more than speculation without any rational basis or supporting data. In addition, defendant says that each of the plaintiffs admitted that she earned more in 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972 from work as a waitress, planting trees in a nursery, cutting wood, and other work, than she had made during 1967 and 1968. Defendant also contends that plaintiffs made more money from such work than they would have made if they had continued to operate the store during those years. In response to these contentions, plaintiffs do not contend on this appeal that in such a case a plaintiff is entitled to recover for loss of compensation as an item of damages separate and distinct from a claim for loss of profits. Thus, we need not decide that question. Plaintiffs do contend, however, that there was sufficient evidence in this case to make it proper for the trial court to submit to the jury the question whether plaintiffs suffered a loss of profits. Thus, in effect, plaintiffs' contention is that they suffered a loss of profits in an amount which would have been sufficient to enable them to pay themselves compensation for their services to the business. Based upon our review of the record in this case, we have concluded that there was sufficient evidence to support a finding by the jury that plaintiffs suffered a loss of profits in an amount which would have been more than sufficient to have enabled them to pay themselves some reasonable compensation for their services during the remaining years of this lease. As stated in Verrett v. Leagjeld, 263 Or. 112, 115, 501 P.2d 780 (1972):    It is apparent from reading our cases that the essential ingredient of proof of lost profits to a reasonable certainty is supporting data. Where there has been supporting data we have approved the recovery of lost profits. Sachs v. Precision Products [257 Or. 273, 476 P.2d 199], supra; Furrer v. Int'l Health Assurance, 256 Or. 429, 474 P.2d 759 (1970); Preble v. Hanna, 117 Or. 306, 244 P. 75 (1926). See, also, Smith v. Abel, 211 Or. 571, 316 P.2d 793 (1957) (distinguished on this ground in Douglas Const. v. Mazama Timber, 256 Or. 107, 471 P.2d 768 (1970)). Where supporting data was lacking we have denied recovery. Pearson v. Schmitt, 259 Or. 439, 487 P.2d 84, modified 260 Or. 607, 492 P.2d 269 (1971); Douglas Const. v. Mazama Timber [256 Or. 107, 471 P.2d 768], supra; Randles v. Nickum & Kelly S. & Grav. Co., 169 Or. 284, 127 P.2d 347 (1942); Solomon v. Kenner, 121 Or. 407, 255 P. 471 (1927); Hagestrom v. Sweeney, 60 Or. 433, 119 P. 725 (1912). See, also, Brenneman v. Auto-Teria, Inc., 260 Or. 513, 491 P.2d 992 (1971). In this case the primary supporting data relied upon by plaintiffs as the basis for a projection of future profits was a record of increasing monthly gross sales up to the month of August 1968, when, according to their testimony, the original driveway to the store was cut off and suppliers and customers were unable to gain access by the new driveway installed by defendant. That record was as follows: Monthly Recap of Gross Sales 1967 1968 1969 January 362.74 980.57 584.88 February 314.75 1,029.52 571.16 March 433.10 1,216.21 Closed April 751.50 1,835.83 May 1,123.89 1,976.90 June 1,831.36 2,096.06 July 2,354.71 2,882.80 August 2,205.03 2,703.23 September 1,758.06 1,942.23 October 1,757.03 1,661.33 November 1,610.16 1,191.83 December 1,223.35 643.81 Plaintiffs also offered evidence that when they first visited Klamath Forest Estates there were only 35 people there; that in 1968 there were 208 people and in 1972, when the lease would have expired, there were 350; that there was no other store within nine miles; that they had acquired a good and friendly relationship with people in the area; and that they had also developed customers from the adjacent area and from travelers on the adjacent highway between Klamath Falls and Lakeview, including substantial business from the sale of beer. Based upon these facts, plaintiffs' expert witness, a C.P.A., computed a projection of future monthly income, from which he expressed the opinion that plaintiffs would have earned profits in the sum of $32,358 over the term of the lease. In our judgment, the foregoing evidence included sufficient supporting data so as to make it proper to submit to the jury plaintiffs' claim of damages for loss of profits, including the question whether plaintiffs would have made profits in an amount more than sufficient to pay themselves some reasonable compensation for their services. Although that claim was not submitted to the jury as a claim for loss of profits, it nevertheless follows that because there was thus sufficient evidence that plaintiffs had suffered such damages, the trial court did not err in denying defendant's motions for a nonsuit and a directed verdict. Those motions went only to the sufficiency of the evidence to support recovery of any damages by plaintiffs. It also follows, in our judgment, that the trial judge did not err in submitting to the jury plaintiffs' claim for lost compensation under the circumstances of this case. As previously stated that claim was, in effect, a claim that plaintiffs suffered a loss of profits in an amount sufficient to enable them to pay themselves some compensation for their services to the business. Defendant does not raise by any proper assignment of error the question whether this is the proper measure of damages in this case or whether, in such a case, a plaintiff may demand damages for lost compensation, as such. Cf. Buck v. Mueller, supra . Defendant also made no motion to withdraw from the jury plaintiffs' claim for loss of compensation. Accordingly, we do not decide that question in this case. Moreover, this case was submitted to the jury under an instruction requested by the defendant on that subject to the effect that before plaintiffs could recover for loss of compensation they must prove to a reasonable certainty that their grocery store would have been able to pay them for their services and that the jury was to deduct any wages that they earned in other employment during the term of the lease. Also, in response to a motion by defendant to reduce the amount of plaintiffs' claim for lost compensation to what the outside evidence was, the trial court reduced the amount of that claim to $30,263. Under these circumstances, defendant cannot properly contend under its assignment of error relating to the denial of a nonsuit and directed verdict that the court erred in submitting to the jury plaintiffs' claim for loss of compensation. In support of defendant's assignments of error for denial of its motions for a nonsuit and a directed verdict defendant also contends, as previously noted, that the plaintiffs failed to prove with reasonable certainty that their business had the necessary ingredients of good will. Defendant also contends that because of the five-year lease, this business could not have any good will for which compensation could be claimed. We need not decide those questions in this case, however, because plaintiffs offered sufficient evidence to go to the jury in support of their claim for damages for lost compensation. It follows that there was no error in denying defendant's motions for a nonsuit and a directed verdict regardless of whether or not plaintiffs offered sufficient evidence to also entitle them to recover for loss of good will. It is true that defendant moved to withdraw from the jury plaintiffs' claim for loss of good will, but no error is assigned by defendant for the denial of that motion and the only error assigned is for the denial of its motions for a nonsuit and a directed verdict. Those motions, which go to the sufficiency of plaintiffs' evidence to support a recovery of damages of any kind, were properly denied. The trial court did not err in its rulings on evidence or instructions.