Opinion ID: 2010977
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Loss of wages by Quist and Iverson.

Text: A person deprived of employment by reason of an improper injunction is entitled to recover for the loss suffered by being out of employment. [4] He must, however, have used due diligence to mitigate these damages by securing other employment. [5] It cannot be denied that Quist and Iverson were rendered unemployed and unemployable in the chemical cleaning-compound business as a result of the exclusive provisions of the restraining order. Defendants' argument that Quist was a partner and therefore limited to recovery of loss of profits might bar his recovery if the evidence compelled a finding that he was in fact a partner. However, the evidence of his relationship to Chem Tech, which was in the process of being incorporated and to which he made no capital contribution, permitted the jury to conclude that he had not yet achieved the status of an owner but was, like Iverson, an employee. Contrary to defendants' contention, a person who, because of another's wrong, loses time from work is entitled to be compensated even though he was not working for a fixed wage or was unemployed at the time of the wrong. Blacktin v. McCarthy, 231 Minn. 303, 42 N.W.2d 818. Evidence of an employee's past earnings is relevant in assessing the amount of wages lost due to defendant's wrong. Blacktin v. McCarthy, supra; Flaugh v. Egan Chevrolet, Inc., 202 Minn. 615, 279 N.W. 582. It is true that the testimony upon which the award of $1,250 to Quist and Iverson was based is, like the testimony bearing on the amount of the loss upon sale of the equipment and rental expense, very sketchy. However, defendants, primarily concerned with defeating plaintiff's efforts to prove causal connection, did not submit direct evidence challenging the amounts claimed, and we would not be justified in holding that the amounts fixed by the jury are based upon mere speculative assertions or that the evidence on any of the questions determined by the jury is so insufficient as to warrant setting aside the verdict. Affirmed.