Opinion ID: 2602361
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Date for Determination of Damages

Text: ¶ 72 Defendants contend the trial court erred in allowing the jury to determine plaintiffs' damages resulting from their loss of ownership in the station, i.e., lost ownership and lost cash distribution, as measured either from the date of defendants' alleged breaches of fiduciary duty or from the date almost a decade later when the case was ready for trial. We disagree. Defendants rely heavily on Sharma v. Skaarup Ship Management Corp., 916 F.2d 820 (2d Cir. 1990), a federal case interpreting New York contract law. The Sharma court stated as follows: Measuring . . . damages by the value of the item at the time of the breach is eminently sensible and actually takes expected lost future profits into account. The value of assets for which there is a market is the discounted value of the stream of future income that the assets are expected to produce. This stream of income, of course, includes expected future profits and/or capital appreciation. 916 F.2d at 826. While such an approach may be appropriate in some cases, the general objective of tort law [is] to place an injured person in a position as nearly as possible to the position he would have occupied but for the defendant's tort . . . . Acculog, Inc. v. Peterson, 692 P.2d 728, 731 (Utah 1984) (citing State v. Stanley, 506 P.2d 1284 (Alaska 1973)). We believe that the trial court is in the best position to determine what award of damages will make a plaintiff whole, and, thus, we are willing to permit the trial court to use its discretion in determining the date from which damages will be measured. See Anchorage Asphalt Paving Co. v. Lewis, 629 P.2d 65, 68 (Alaska 1981) (Because the circumstances of individual cases differ drastically, it is impractical to adopt a definite point in time to value damages. It has been found preferable to leave the question to the trial court's discretion.). ¶ 73 In this case, we conclude the trial court's decision was within its permitted range of discretion. By measuring damages at the time of trial, the jury was presented with estimates of the MWT, Ltd., limited partners' lost profits from 1987 to the expected trial date, 1997, as well as the potential fair market value of Channel 13 in 1997. We believe this evidence allowed the jury to come to a reasonable approximation of the damages the MWT, Ltd., limited partners actually incurred as a result of defendants' alleged breaches of fiduciary duty. Accordingly, the trial court's decision was within its permitted discretion.