Opinion ID: 1319025
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: did plaintiff-appellee prove he was damaged by the breach?

Text: In light of our conclusion that there was ample evidence to sustain the finding of a breach of an express warranty, the only question remaining concerns proof of damages. In cases where a buyer seeks to recover damages for a breach of warranty, § 34-21-293(b), W.S. 1977 (UCC § 2-714) instructs: (b) The measure of damages for breach of warranty is the difference at the time and place of acceptance between the value of the goods accepted and the value they would have had if they had been as warranted, unless special circumstances show proximate damages of a different amount. Subsection (c) of § 34-21-293, W.S. 1977, also allows the buyer, in a proper case, to recover any consequential and incidental damages. The recovery of incidental and consequential damages for breach of warranty is governed by § 34-21-294, W.S. 1977 (UCC § 2-715). That section provides: (a) Incidental damages resulting from the seller's breach include expenses reasonably incurred in inspection, receipt, transportation and care and custody of goods rightfully rejected, any commercially reasonable charges, expenses or commissions in connection with effecting cover and any other reasonable expense incident to the delay or other breach. (b) Consequential damages resulting from the seller's breach include: (i) Any loss resulting from general or particular requirements and needs of which the seller at the time of contracting had reason to know and which could not reasonably be prevented by cover or otherwise; and (ii) Injury to person or property proximately resulting from any breach of warranty. In this case, plaintiff-appellee sought recovery for his lost profits which, he argued, resulted as a consequence of the breach. The trial court ascertained the loss-of-profit figure of $10,371 by assuming a    gross return of Forty (40) bushels per acre on One Hundred Forty (140) acres, each bushel having a dollar value of Four Dollars ($4.00) for a total of Twenty-Two Thousand Four Hundred Dollars ($22,400.00) from which should be subtracted the following expenses incurred by Plaintiff in connection with the crop: Eight Hundred Sixty-Six Dollars ($866.00) for seed grain, Nine Thousand Twenty-Three Dollars ($9,023.00) for electric power to operate the sprinkler system and water well, land preparation, planting, fertilizing and post emergent herbicide spraying, and One Thousand Five Hundred Forty Dollars ($1,540.00) for harvesting   ; The further sum of Six Hundred Dollars ($600.00) should also be deducted as the sum received by Plaintiff for use of the vegetation actually produced as cattle grazing;    (From the judgment of the court.) The problem that we have with this calculation is the court's finding that the plaintiff-appellee would have produced 40 bushels of wheat per acre. Although we have never specifically held that lost profits can be recovered for breach of warranty, the general rule is that such profits are a proper element of damages which can be recovered for breach of warranty under the Uniform Commercial Code. White and Summers, Uniform Commercial Code § 10-4, p. 391 (2nd Ed. 1980). See also: White v. Oregon Horticultural Supply, 40 Or. App. 323, 594 P.2d 1321 (1979); Clark v. International Harvester Co., 99 Idaho 326, 581 P.2d 784 (1978); Golden Gate Hop Ranch, Inc. v. Velsicol Chemical Corp., 66 Wash.2d 469, 403 P.2d 351 (1965). However, the rule allowing recovery for lost profits requires that the plaintiff prove such loss with a reasonable degree of certainty through use of the best evidence available. R.E.B., Inc. v. Ralston Purina Company, 525 F.2d 749 (10th Cir.1975); Lundgren v. Whitney's, Inc., 94 Wash.2d 91, 614 P.2d 1272 (1980). We discussed the necessity of proving damages for lost profits with reasonable certainty in Wyoming Bancorporation v. Bonham, Wyo., 563 P.2d 1382 (1977). There we said: The evidence necessary to establish lost future profits with reasonable certainty depends, then, upon the circumstances of the particular case. Notes: Requirements of Certainty of Proof of Lost Profits, 64 Harv.L.Rev. 317, 319 (1950). A court should approach each case in an individual manner and require the claimant to furnish the best proof available as to amount of loss. Vickers v. Wichita State University, Wichita, supra, [213 Kan. 614] 518 P.2d [512] at 517; and McCormick, Law of Damages, § 29 (1935). Absolute certainty in proving loss of future profits is not required. 563 P.2d at 1385, 1386. According to these rules, plaintiff-appellee could recover his lost profits under § 34-21-294(b), as long as he presented sufficient evidence to enable the trial court to determine his profit loss with a reasonable degree of certainty. Wyoming Bancorporation, supra. In this case, Pavlica could claim damages for lost profits because Albin Elevator is chargeable with the knowledge that if it delivered winter wheat in the month of May Mike Pavlica could not produce a crop. Section 34-21-294(b)(i), supra. We call attention to the fact that, in this appeal, we are not dealing with a question involving damages recoverable for loss of a growing crop. Under the growing crop theory of damages a plaintiff can recover damages up to the amount of the value of the crop as it stood in the ground at the time it was destroyed, and for any loss in the diminution of the value of the land. We discussed the application of this theory of damages in Reeder Flying Service v. Crompton, Wyo., 470 P.2d 281 (1970), where we upheld the award of damages for diminution in the value of the plaintiff's lands due to the negligent spraying of the chemical by defendants but held that plaintiff had failed to establish the value of the hay at the time it was destroyed by the chemical. The rule discussed in that case holds that, in seeking recovery for damage to a growing crop, the plaintiff must establish with a reasonable degree of certainty the value of the crop at the time it was injured or destroyed, and this is the prevailing viewpoint. Black v. Ellithorp, Okl., 382 P.2d 23 (1963); Wood v. Woodcock, 276 Or. 49, 554 P.2d 151 (1976); Frankfort Oil Co. v. Abrams, 159 Colo. 535, 413 P.2d 190 (1966). It is important to point out that, in the case at bar, plaintiff-appellee is seeking to recover for lost profits arising out of his failure to produce any spring wheat crop because appellants did not sell him spring wheat seed. In other words, the facts establish that plaintiff is not attempting to recover and could not recover damages under the growing crops theory since he is claiming to have suffered damage by reason of the fact that he did not produce a crop at all. In such circumstances there can be no recovery for damages to a growing crop, because there was no crop growing at the time the injury occurred since, in this instance, the injury occurred at the time the seed was sold. We add this discussion to insure that no confusion results, and to point out that we are not here concerned with a situation like that discussed in Reeder Flying Services v. Crompton, supra. With the above discussion in mind, the only question left for resolution concerns whether or not the plaintiff-appellee's evidence of lost profits was sufficient to allow the trial court to award them. We hold that it was not. In our judgment, the rule of damages for lost profit must, in this case, be viewed in the context that the wheat crop in question was in the nature of a new or contemplated business. We suggest this because the plaintiff did not have extensive experience in planting spring wheat on his farm [3] and also because the farmer's income from each and every planting is dependent upon so many variables that every year's experience takes on the characteristics of a new venture. This does not mean that loss of future profits are not provable (see Shelver v. Simonsen, 369 F. Supp. 4 (1973), but it does mean that that proof is very difficult. Where, for example, in a cattle-raising venture, the plaintiff sought loss of profits, the Federal District Court of North Dakota, Northeastern Division, said:    I conclude that, while in theory, loss of profit is provable as an item of damage, in fact, the element of future profit is usually so speculative that any evidence addressed to proving it will be subject to harsh scrutiny; and no verdict or finding of fact of loss of profit will be allowed to stand unless the proof is clear and unequivocal. 369 F. Supp. at 5-6. In his attempt to prove damages for lost profits, plaintiff-appellee relied mostly upon the experience of a neighboring farmer, a Mr. Lawrence Anderson. This witness testified that his farm was located some three and one-half miles as the crow flies from Mike Pavlica's farm, and that he had grown many crops of wheat over the years. He testified that in 1980 he raised a crop of wheat that produced an average of 60 bushels per acre and sold for $4.20 to $4.30 a bushel. In his testimony he recounted that he had experienced no severe weather problems and that he knew of none in the area, and Mr. Anderson said that he had an irrigation system similar to the one on the plaintiff-appellee's farm. On the basis of this evidence, and Dr. Kolp's testimony that yields can average some 20 to 25 bushels per acre below those experienced by Mr. Anderson, the trial judge awarded Pavlica damages for lost profits in the amount of $10,371. All that Mr. Anderson's testimony proved was that his farm, located in the vicinity, experienced a successful return on a wheat crop. No testimony was ever elicited which connected Mr. Anderson's farming practices with Mike Pavlica's, nor was there any evidence concerning similar soil types, nutrients, or other conditions extant upon the Pavlica and Anderson farms. In fact, Mr. Anderson admitted that he had no knowledge about plaintiff-appellee's farming practices, soil conditions, or other variables associated with raising a profitable crop. He was only able to recount his own experience which was never sufficiently related or compared to Mike Pavlica's probable experience. Thus, although the plaintiff-appellee did not have to show that Mr. Anderson's yield and price were identical to what his would have been, it became his obligation to at least prove that Mr. Anderson's crop was produced under conditions similar to his and others in the vicinity so that the trial judge could make a reasonable estimate on the basis of the comparison. Blackburn v. Carlson Seed Company, Mo. App., 321 S.W.2d 520 (1959). We are further of the opinion that in order for plaintiff-appellee to recover for lost profits it was incumbent upon him to provide the court with evidence supporting his claim that his farm was a profitable operation. The courts generally require some record of profits which allows the reasonable inference to be drawn that a profit would have been experienced but for the breach of the defendant. See White v. Oregon Horticultural Supply, supra. Plaintiff-appellee offered no records or other evidence of past yields even though he had apparently grown a crop of spring wheat on a prior occasion. Evidence establishing prior profitable returns with other crops grown by appellant would have been relevant for purposes of proving that appellant's farming operation had been profitable before, and that, under the conditions then existing, he would expect it would have been profitable again except for the breach. Golden Gate Hop Ranch, Inc. v. Velsicol Chemical Corp., supra. We conclude then that it was incumbent upon the plaintiff-appellee to produce more than the testimony of a neighboring farmer as to what occurred on his farm. To allow the trial judge to arrive at a reasonable award, it was necessary that there be some evidence going to the similarities which existed between the farms, other than their location, in order for a reasonable comparison to be made. Here, we believe the evidence was deficient in this respect. The award of lost profits could only have been based on conjecture and speculation and must be reversed. Since the plaintiff-appellee failed to prove those damages, he is entitled to no recovery. Affirmed in part and reversed in part.