Opinion ID: 1612232
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 40

Heading: Instructions Pertaining to Damages

Text: Roles argues that the trial court erred in refusing to give his proposed instructions Nos. 2 and 3, which generally defined the elements of a contract to loan money. As previously noted, the 1990 agreement of the parties was not a contract to loan money, but, rather, was an agreement defining the terms of a joint business venture involving Roles, Shepherd, and Corbet. The district court did not err in refusing to give the instructions proposed by Roles because the tendered instructions were not warranted by the evidence. Roles also argues that the giving of instructions Nos. 8 and 17 with respect to damages was error on several grounds. Roles argues that the two instructions, read in conjunction, improperly permitted the jury to award lost profits in the event that it determined that Roles breached the parties' agreement by utilizing the tax benefits of Nebraska Nutrients and Tri-State for the tax years after 1990. We disagree. Instruction No. 17 provides that [o]ne who is injured by a breach of contract is entitled to recover all of his damages, including gains prevented as well as losses sustained, provided they are reasonably certain and such as might naturally be expected to follow the breach.  (Emphasis supplied.) Instruction No. 17 also instructs that damages must be proximately caused by the ... breach of contract complained of. Proximate cause is defined in instruction No. 11. Therefore, because the instructions clearly provided that the jury award only those damages proximately caused by the breach complained of, they were not prejudicially erroneous in this regard. Roles also argues that instruction No. 8 is inconsistent. The instruction initially informs the jury that it is not to determine if Roles is a creditor in the bankruptcy action involving Nebraska Nutrients. However, it then goes on to provide as a possible breach of contract by Roles that he took Nebraska Nutrients and Tri-State into bankruptcy in Arizona. A close examination of the evidence and the instruction, however, resolves any facial inconsistency. The evidence at trial revealed that Roles filed a number of claims in the bankruptcy action which have yet to be examined by the bankruptcy judge. Instruction No. 8 simply informed the jury that it need not decide the validity of Roles' bankruptcy claims, while not precluding them from considering the fact that he was a petitioning creditor in the bankruptcy action in determining the breach claims. It is an instruction's meaning, not its phraseology, that is the crucial consideration, and a claim of prejudice will not lie when the instruction's meaning is reasonably clear. Nelson v. Lusterstone Surfacing Co., 258 Neb. 678, 605 N.W.2d 136 (2000). In addition, Roles does not allege how any inconsistency in these instructions prejudiced him. It is the burden of the complaining party to establish that judicial prejudice has occurred. Everts v. Hardcopf-Bickley, 257 Neb. 151, 595 N.W.2d 911 (1999); Bunnell v. Burlington Northern RR. Co., 247 Neb. 743, 530 N.W.2d 230 (1995). Roles also argues that instructions Nos. 8 and 17 are incorrect because they allow the jury to find that Roles breached the contract by attempting to terminate Shepherd and Corbet's interest in the plant and the corporations. He contends that this instruction allows the jury to award to Shepherd and Corbet damages for Roles' actions in seeking to have the disclaimers enforced. Roles argues that the instructions therefore allow Shepherd and Corbet to both rescind the disclaimers and recover damages on the disclaimers, violating the election of remedies doctrine. There was evidence at trial indicating that Roles and Shepherd discussed eliminating Corbet from participating in the project in 1991 and that Roles barred Shepherd and Corbet from the premises in 1993. In addition, there was evidence that Roles held corporate meetings to elect himself as the officer and director of both corporations and to terminate Shepherd as an employee. From the record, it appears that there was sufficient evidence at trial, wholly unrelated to the disclaimer issue, regarding Roles' efforts to terminate the interests of Shepherd and Corbet in the project. Furthermore, the jury was specifically instructed that it was not to award any damages by virtue of any fraudulent misrepresentation performed by Roles in obtaining the disclaimers. Therefore, because the evidence supports this instruction and because the jury instructions, taken as a whole, indicate that the instruction was correct and not prejudicial, there is no reversible error.