Court Opinion

ID: 9567667
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:56:34.627881+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:02:11.227219
License: Public Domain

Justice PLEICONES
concurring:
I concur in the majority’s express adoption of the lost-volume-seller doctrine and in the result. A lost-volume seller, or lessor, cannot mitigate his damages, so there is no duty to try. Evidence in the record supports the finding that Collins is a lost-volume lessor. I write separately because my analysis differs from the majority’s on some issues.
In note 8, the majority asserts that the issue whether the lost-volume-seller doctrine can apply in contract but not tort, an issue addressed in the dissent, is not preserved. I disagree. The issue is within the ambit of the main issue in the case ... whether the doctrine ever applies. I nonetheless disagree with the dissent that the lost-volume-seller doctrine can apply in breach-of-contract cases but not in tortiousinterference cases.
As noted in the dissent: “The nexus between the two causes of action [breach of contract and tortious interference with contract] is the breach of the contract, for ... breach of the contract is an element of both causes of action. This is the element from which the injured party’s actual damages flow on both the contract and tort claims.” Collins Music Co. v. *420Smith, 332 S.C. 145, 147, 503 S.E.2d 481, 481 (Ct.App.1998) (quoting Ross v. Holton, 640 S.W.2d 166, 173 (Mo.Ct.App.1982)). In sum, contract damages are part of tortious-interference damages. The nature of the claim, whether contract or tort, does not affect the method of determining the damages flowing from the plaintiffs loss of contract expectations, and the lost-volume-seller doctrine merely provides one such method. There is no reason that the doctrine cannot apply in a tortious-interference case.
With respect to the dissent’s conclusion that Collins has received a double recovery, I agree, but the writ of certiorari that we granted did not encompass the issue. The only issues before us are whether the lost-volume-seller doctrine can apply in South Carolina and whether it applies in this ease.
For the reasons above, I concur in the result reached by the majority.