Opinion ID: 779119
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Three Percent Performance Bonus

Text: 48 ADR's final allegation is that Agway breached the contract by failing to pay the 3% performance bonus specified in paragraph 6 of the Supply Agreement. ADR argues that it can calculate the resulting damage based only on projected savings because the records are unrecoverable due to the dissolution of ARS after Goodman joined Agway. Agway responds that ADR has not demonstrated that it breached the agreement. Specifically, it argues that ADR has presented insufficient evidence to establish that Agway achieved any actual savings for the twelve months of the contract. Agway insists that any inability of ADR to gather evidence of actual savings during discovery is nullified by the fact that ADR withdrew its motion to compel Agway to produce further evidence. 49 We agree with Agway. ADR conceded that savings were to be calculated based on actual net savings achieved. Even if we assumed that Agway breached the agreement, ADR has not produced any method by which the fact of damages could be calculated with reasonable certainty. [U]ncertainty as to the fact of legal damages... is fatal to recovery. Wolverine Upholstery Co. v. Ammerman, 1 Mich. App. 235, 135 N.W.2d 572, 576 (1965); see also In re F. Yeager Bridge & Culvert Co., 150 Mich.App. 386, 389 N.W.2d 99, 106 (1986). Indeed, the only record evidence based on actual Agway purchasing data shows that Agway's purchasing costs actually increased during the contract period between the parties. ADR's failure to unearth contradictory evidence of actual savings is a defect that cannot be corrected on appeal. See White v. Anchor Motor Freight, Inc., 899 F.2d 555, 559 (6th Cir.1990) (noting that an appellate court review[s] the case presented to the district court rather than a better case fashioned after the district court's order (quotation marks and citation omitted)). Without some evidence of actual savings, ADR's claimed damages are wholly speculative. As such, recovery is barred. Wolverine, 135 N.W.2d at 576.