Opinion ID: 1719950
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: damages for loss of use.

Text: The jury awarded the plaintiffs $2,500 for loss of use of the motorhome from the date of revocation of acceptance, August 15, 1974, to the date of the verdict. KOA argues that the plaintiffs were precluded by the terms of the limited warranty from recovering any incidental or consequential damages, including any damages for loss of use of the vehicle. [15] Where the exclusive limited remedy of the contract fails of its essential purpose, however, the buyer is entitled to invoke any of the remedies available under the UCC. Sec. 402.719 (2), Stats. This includes the right to recover consequential damages under sec. 402.715. [9] [16] Consequential damages include any loss caused by general or particular needs of the buyer of which the seller had reason to know at the time of contracting and which could not reasonably be prevented by cover or otherwise. Sec. 402.715 (1), Stats. Consequential damages have specifically been held to include damages for loss of use of an inoperable motor vehicle. Bob Anderson Pontiac, Inc. v. Davidson (Ind. App. 1973), 293 N.E.2d 232; Williams v. College Dodge, Inc., 11 UCC Rep. 958 (Mich. Dist. Ct. 1972). [17] A buyer has a general duty to mitigate his damages and may not recover damages which he could reasonably have prevented. Sec. 402.715(2) (a), Stats., White and Summers, supra, at sec. 10-4, p. 323. For this reason, loss-of-use damages may not be recovered for an indefinite period. However, such damages are properly available for periods during which a buyer, relying in good faith on the seller's assurances that defects will be cured, is unable to use the vehicle which he has purchased. See, Jerry Alderman Ford Sales, Inc. v. Bailey (Ind. App. 1972), 291 N.E.2d 92, 105. The defendant, KOA, relies upon Russo v. Hilltop Lincoln-Mercury, Inc. (Mo. App. 1972), 479 S.W.2d 211. There, defective wiring had caused an automobile to be totally burned. The Missouri Court of Appeals held that, because the car could not be repaired, the limited warranty remedy of repair or replacement of defective parts was inapplicable. Accordingly, the buyer was allowed to recover, not merely the replacement cost of the defective wiring, but rather the full value of the car. Implicit in this holding was a determination that the limited warranty remedy had failed of its essential purpose. Nevertheless, when the Missouri court turned to the buyer's claim for damages for the rental cost of a replacement car, the court held that such damages were excluded by the terms of the warranty and that this exclusion had not failed of its essential purpose. This result is inconsistent with the many decisions which have held that consequential damages may be recovered where a limited contractual remedy excluding such damages has failed. Ehlers v. Chrysler Motor Corporation, supra ; Beal v. General Motors Corp., supra ; Koehring Company v. A.P.I., Incorporated (D.C. Mich. 1974), 369 Fed. Supp. 882; Reynolds v. Preferred Mutual Insurance Co. (Mass. App. Div. 1972), 11 UCC Rep. 701; Adams v. J. I. Case Company, 125 Ill. App.2d 388, 261 N.E.2d 1 (1970). Moreover, the result of the Russo Case, supra , which permitted the buyer to recover some UCC damages but not others, is inconsistent with the apparent intention of the drafters. Sec. 402.719 (2), Stats., provides that once a limited remedy fails of its essential purpose remedy may be had as provided in this code. In such a case the exclusive contractual remedy . . . must give way to the general remedy provision of this Article [chapter 402, Stats.]. Official Comment 1, sec. 2-719 UCC. [18] Thus, although an express warranty excludes consequential damages, when the exclusive contractual remedy fails, the buyer may recover consequential damages under sec. 402.715, Stats., as though the limitation had never existed. White and Summers, supra, at sec. 12-10, p. 382. The instant plaintiffs were therefore entitled to recover any consequential damages which they could prove, including reasonable damages incurred as a result of loss of use of the motorhome. [19, 20] However, we are of the opinion that the plaintiffs have not sustained their burden of proof with regard to loss of use damages in the amount of $2,500. Consequential damages need not be shown with mathematical precision. Official Comment 4, sec. 2-715, UCC. Nevertheless, the burden of proving consequential damages is on the buyer, Official Comment 4, sec. 2-715, UCC; he must prove by credible evidence to a reasonable certainty that such damages were suffered and must prove, at least to a reasonable probability, the amount of these damages. See: Pleasure Time, Inc. v. Kuss, 78 Wis.2d 373, 387, 254 N.W. 2d 463 (1977); Naden v. Johnson, supra, at 387. Damages may not be awarded on speculation or conjecture alone. Pleasure Time, Inc. v. Kuss, supra, at 387, 388; White and Summers, supra, at sec. 10-4, pp. 321, 322. Here, there was evidence with regard to the period of time during which the motorhome was unusable, and with regard to the approximate rental cost of a replacement motorhome, but there was no evidence of the extent to which the motorhome would have been used by the plaintiffs if it had not been defective. Mr. Murray testified that he was unable to use the motorhome from January 30, 1974, to March 10, 1974, and the motorhome apparently remained unusable for much of the period from March 10th to July, 1974. Although the plaintiffs made a fishing trip in the motorhome in May without much trouble, they were forced to shorten the Colorado trip by one week as a result of the problems with the vehicle, and the vehicle was not used for any additional trips prior to the trial. It had been driven only once or twice, over a four-mile route between the plaintiffs' former residence and a new residence, and Mr. Murray had lived in it for approximately one week while they were moving. There was testimony that the rental cost of a comparable vehicle was approximately $155 per week plus eight cents per mile traveled. However, there was no evidence that the Murrays had in fact rented a replacement. Although Mr. Murray testified that the motorhome was purchased . . . to go on trips, use it for vacations and fishing and whatever you use one for, there was no evidence of the extent to which it would have been used. There was no testimony with regard to any particular trips which the plaintiffs were unable to take. There was no testimony that they were forced to rent alternative transportation. There was no indication of the number of trips they would have taken, the distances they would have traveled, nor the number of days the motorhome would have been used. [21] Damages for loss of use of a recreational vehicle should be founded upon credible evidence of the use which would have been made of the vehicle if not for the defects, or upon evidence of expenses actually incurred as a result of the vehicle's inoperability. Such losses should not be calculated simply by reference to the number of days the vehicle sits idle, absent evidence that the vehicle would have been in use for the entire period. The only definite testimony concerning lost use of the motorhome was to the effect that the Colorado trip was cut short by one week. Apart from this testimony, there was no basis from which the jury could determine the amount of any damages suffered by the plaintiffs due to the loss of use of the motorhome. With the exception of damages for this one-week period, the $2,500 damages awarded by the jury were speculative. [22] Based upon our review of the evidence bearing upon loss of use of the motorhome, we determine that $500 is a reasonable sum to award the plaintiffs for loss of the use of the vehicle. Therefore the plaintiffs are accorded the option of accepting judgment reduced to $500 for loss of use of the motorhome, or of having a new trial confined to the issue of damages for the loss of the use of the motorhome. [10]