Opinion ID: 146651
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: treasure island

Text: So too with regard to the jury's damage award. The Texas Supreme Court instructs that [r]ecovery of lost profits does not require that the loss be susceptible to exact calculation. Szczepanik v. First S. Trust Co., 883 S.W.2d 648, 649 (Tex.1994) (citing Tex. Instruments v. Teletron Energy Mgmt., Inc., 877 S.W.2d 276, 279 (Tex.1994)). Nevertheless, the party claiming injury must show more than some lost profits; [t]he amount of the loss must be shown by competent evidence with reasonable certainty. Id. This inquiry is fact intensive. Id. (citing Holt Atherton Indus., Inc. v. Heine, 835 S.W.2d 80, 84 (Tex.1992)). At a minimum, opinions or estimates of lost profits must be based on objective facts, figures, or data from which the amount of lost profits may be ascertained. Id. (quoting Heine, 835 S.W.2d at 84). The proper measure is lost net profits. Heine, 835 S.W.2d at 83 n. 1. Unless the issues concerning lost profits are highly technical, expert testimony is not required. Fairmont Supply Co. v. Hooks Indus., Inc., 177 S.W.3d 529, 532 n. 1 (Tex.App. Houston [1st Dist.] 2005, pet. denied). Texas law recognizes that for enterprises with a record of profitability, records of past profits, with other relevant facts and circumstances, may support a finding of lost profits. See Sw. Battery Corp. v. Owen, 131 Tex. 423, 115 S.W.2d 1097, 1098-99 (Tex.1938). In contrast, new or unestablished ventures must meet more exacting standards to prove that the profits claimed are not too uncertain or speculative. See id. The requirement of `reasonable certainty' in the proof of lost profits is intended to be flexible enough to accommodate the myriad circumstances in which claims for lost profits arise. Tex. Instruments, 877 S.W.2d at 279. The proper focus is not on the business entity, but on whether the activity in which it engages is generally profitable. See id. at 280. The jury heard an estimate from Carsten Ennemann that Meaux had suffered a $2.3 million loss of treasure in 2007 thanks to their employees-turned-freebooters. Ennemann was personally familiar with the drop in business suffered by Meaux. Ennemann compared 2007 sales figures for several major clients with the budget projections which were prepared by Fogleman himself before he jumped ship. At trial, Fogleman stood by the projections as reasonable estimates of Meaux's likely business, taking into account the factors he deemed relevant. Fogleman's testimony supported Meaux's case; he was keelhauled by his own windlass. In light of the evidence tending to show that defendants' acts harmed Meaux, the jury was entitled to find that Fogleman's and Kotrla's acts in derogation of a fiduciary duty to Meaux harmed it to the tune of $1.43 million. See Navigant Consulting, 508 F.3d at 291. The evidence also showed that Meaux's operations, and marine painting and sandblasting in general, were profitable for many years before Fogleman and Kotrla left to form CleanBlast. Since time immemorial, [t]hey that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, [3] have needed to protect the hulls of their vessels. Because the company and industry were not nascent and untested, copious evidence of lost profits was unnecessary. See Tex. Instruments, 877 S.W.2d at 280; accord Info. Commc'n Corp. v. Unisys Corp., 181 F.3d 629, 634 (5th Cir. 1999). Therefore, the evidence the jury heard about lost profits was not so speculative that it was legally insufficient. In this instance, Meaux's election not to provide greater documentation of loss, or failure to preemptively eliminate every potentially contributory factor to profitability, goes to the weight of the testimony, not its sufficiency. See Heine, 835 S.W.2d at 84 (noting that supporting documentation is helpful, but not required, to support an estimate of lost profits); see also Nova Consulting Group, Inc. v. Eng'g Consulting Servs., Ltd., 290 Fed.Appx. 727, 739 (5th Cir.2008) (unpublished) (holding that lost profits were sufficiently proved by examining past profits and a budget prepared by an employee immediately before leaving to form a competing venture). Finally, the jury's award of $1.43 million to Meaux was well within Meaux's estimated $2.3 million loss for 2007. See Nova Consulting, 290 Fed.Appx. at 740. In sum, legally sufficient evidence supported the jury's damage award for lost profits. Defendants are not entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Thomas, 220 F.3d at 392-93.