Opinion ID: 2266073
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Predeparture contract claims

Text: The amount of lost-profit damages Atlantic can recover on the contracts Long procured for R.J. before leaving Atlantic is a function of two variables: (1) the dollar value of the contracts diverted from Atlantic to R.J. and (2) Atlantic's profit margins if it had obtained these contracts. Thus, pursuant to one of the contracts Long purloined from Atlantic, R.J. painted a school in 1987 for about $17,000. Because Atlantic's profit margin for that year was no greater than 15 percent, [5] Atlantic could have realized no more than $2,550 if it had obtained and performed the painting contract instead of R.J. Applying this same maximum net-profit margin to the $14,785 inspection contract that Long obtained for R.J. produces a best-case lost-net-profit figure of $2,217.75 for Atlantic. Thus, Atlantic's total lost profits on these two predeparture contracts is $4,767.75. Long argues that whatever lost-profit amounts are involved should be reduced by 50 percent because that was the extent of Long's interest in R.J. But the measure of damages is the loss to Atlantic, Psaty & Fuhrman, Inc. v. The Housing Authority of Providence, 76 R.I. 87, 98, 68 A.2d 32, 38 (1949), not the gain to Long. On the basis of the foregoing, Atlantic's damage claims for Long's predeparture breaches of loyalty should have been capped at $4,767.75. There was no basis in the record for a reasonable juror to award greater damages. Thus, the trial justice should have directed a verdict in Long's favor for any predeparture lost-contract damages above this figure.