Fera v. Village Plaza

Plaintiffs Anthony Fera and Frank Fera were awarded damages by a jury in Wayne Circuit Court, Charles A. Wickens, J., against defendants Village Plaza, Inc., Fairborn Property Co., Inc., Schostak Brothers & Company, Inc., and Bank of the Commonwealth, for loss of anticipated profits of their proposed new business as a result of breach of a lease. The Court of Appeals, McGregor, P. J., and J. H. Gillis, J. (O'Hara, J., Dissenting), reversed and remanded for a new trial on the amount of damages, holding that lost profits for a new business were not a proper element of damages and that plaintiffs' proofs of lost profits were speculative (Docket Nos. 14569, 14570). Plaintiffs appeal and defendants cross-appeal. Held: 1. A new business may recover anticipated lost profits for breach of contract. The issue is one of sufficiency of proof. In order to be entitled to a judgment for damages for breach of contract, a plaintiff must lay a basis for a reasonable estimate of the extent of his harm, measured in money. Future profits are not excluded as an element of damages unless they are uncertain; in any case where future profits may be established with reasonable certainty they are allowed.