Court Opinion

ID: 9620175
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:39:34.919667+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:47.912472
License: Public Domain

Carley, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s holding in Division 1 that "in accordance with Wideman v. Selph, 71 Ga. App. 343, (1, 2) (30 SE2d 797), that damages of lost profits were not too remote or speculative to be recovered in the case at bar.” The majority devotes its attention to and places its emphasis upon what it finds to be evidence of lost profits shown with reasonable certainty. Thus, the majority finds the case to be within the exception to the general rule excluding recovery for loss of expected profits. Without commenting upon the sufficiency of the evidence to come within this exclusion, I dissent because I believe the emphasis of the majority is entirely misplaced. While sufficient probative evidence of loss of profits would under appropriate circumstances be admissible as illustrative of damages claimed by the appellee, in this case, the lost profits were the damages claimed by and, by the verdict of the jury, recovered by the appellee. Herein lies the fatal defect in the verdict and in the reasoning of the majority because in this type of case the correct measure of damages is "the excess in the value of the term *301over the amount agreed to be paid as rent. If no excess, nominal damages only are recoverable. Anticipated profits from á business intended to be carried on by the tenant upon the premises are not recoverable.” Kenny v. Collier, 79 Ga. 743 (8 SE 58) (1887). See also Miner v. Graham, 60 Ga. App. 189 (3 SE2d 211) (1939); and Shiver v. Burkett, 74 Ga. App. 195 (39 SE2d 431) (1946). Here there was no evidence showing the value of the term as compared with the rental reserved. Wideman v. Selph, supra, cited by the majority is not authority for the decision in this case dealing with a claim by a tenant based upon the landlord’s breach of an agreement to lease land to the tenant. Wideman involved a landlord-sharecropper arrangement wherein the agreement between the parties specifically envisioned that the compensation of the sharecropper would be a portion of the profits realized. In the instant case, there was no evidence from which the jury could determine damages, if any, in accordance with the measure contemplated by law. Therefore, I believe that verdict based solely on loss of profits is erroneous and that the judgment entered thereon should be reversed.