Opinion ID: 1989929
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alleged error regarding loss of profits jury instruction.

Text: Deere also contends that the district court erred by refusing to submit its requested jury instruction concerning calculation of loss of profits. Our standard of review regarding challenges to jury instructions is stated above. The court's jury instruction No. 28 concerning damages for loss of profits by Revere stated as follows: If you should find, from a preponderance of the evidence in this case, that the Plaintiff is entitled to a verdict, the law provides that the Plaintiff is to be fairly compensated for all damages, if any, to its business, which were proximately caused by the Defendant's conduct. In arriving at the amount of any loss of profits sustained by the Plaintiff, you are entitled to consider any past earnings of the Plaintiff in the business in question, as well as any other evidence in the case bearing upon the issue. If you should find, from a preponderance of the evidence in this case, that damage to Plaintiff's business in the form of lost profits was proximately caused by the Defendant's wrongful conduct complained of, then the circumstance [that] the precise amount of the Plaintiff's damages may be difficult to ascertain should not affect the Plaintiff's recovery. On the other hand, damages for lost profits must be established with reasonable certainty and may not be based upon speculation and conjecture. There must be a reasonable basis in the evidence for determining that the Plaintiff has, in fact, suffered a loss of profits, even though the amount of such loss is difficult to ascertain. The court refused to submit to the jury an instruction requested by Deere that would attempt to establish a formula for determining lost profits. Deere contends that the district court erred in telling the jury that any damages awarded should be based on gross profits, rather than net profits and that the jury was left to arbitrarily fix the amount of damages because there was no mathematical formula mentioned in the instructions to guide it. We conclude that the district court properly instructed the jury regarding calculation of loss of profits. We do not believe that a jury instruction on loss of profits must include a mathematical formula. See 22 Am.Jur.2d Damages § 989, at 1029 (1988) (trial court is not bound to formulate or prescribe a method of computation which the jury should pursue in determining damages). As noted above, each party presented evidence concerning Revere's lost profits and each party presented a different method for calculating lost profits damages. What evidence the jury chose to believe and what award of damages it thought was appropriate was its decision. The damages award was within the range of the evidence and we will not interfere with it. Hawkeye Motors, 541 N.W.2d at 918.