Compensating Harm
Can damages awards be speculated?
NO. Damages must be based on concrete, specific evidence, not speculation or generalized awards
What does a court consider when evaluating the availability of punitive damages?
Level of Culpability. (N, recklessness, intentional, etc.)
The actual amount of compensatory damages.
Was Defendant the direct actor or is it vicarious?
What are the Four Categories of Injunctions ?
1. Permanent vs. Preliminary Injunction
2. Preventive vs. Reparative Injunction
3. Mandatory vs. Prohibitory Injunction
4. Specific vs. Substitutionary
What is the duty to mitigate and what principles underline this duty?
Non-breacher may recover consequential damages when damages "could not reasonably be prevented by cover or otherwise.
Principles:
What is the LOST VOLUME SELLER THEORY for K's governed by common law? How do you calculate damages under this theory?
LOST VOLUME SELLER THEORY for K's governed by common law: Plaintiffs prove by preponderance of the evidence (1) it had the capacity to perform additional contracts, (2) those contracts would have been profitable, and (3) it would have entered into those contracts even if defendant had not breached.
***UCC RULE: Seller Damages = K price - Resale Price + incidentals (if any, here being, cost of storage and insurance payments to continue keeping boat insured) - savings from breach.
What are the 3 broad categories of remedies and what purpose do they each serve?
Injunctive: influences behavior.
Damages: how much money?
Restitution: give it back!
What is the only difference between the contract claim and the tort claim (contorts)?
Only difference is when D decided to breach. If you decide to breach before you ever made the contract, that is a tort.
What is the Irreparable Injury Rule?
Measure of Inadequacy?
What is the collateral source rule?
Basically, plaintiff's don't get to double dip. Benefits recovered from certain third parties (think insurance) are subtracted from the damages calculation against defendants.
What should our theory of recovery be in a sale of goods case?
If there were incidental damages (extra costs due to buyer's breach), then seller should be able to recover those damages.
What is the Restatement Third of Torts Remedies One-Satisfaction Rule?
Plaintiff cannot be compensated twice for the same harm.
**Might be suing under different causes of action, but with respect to any underlying harm, you get paid either from this client or this client, but not from both. Why? Because you have already been placed back in your rightful position.
What are injunctions?
Injunctions are equitable remedies issued by courts to prevent harm rather than compensate after the fact.
When are equitable remedies awarded?
When there is not an adequate remedy at law.
What is the economic loss rule?
Dealing with the question of whether P can recover for prospective economic loss (future earnings).
True or False: Party expectations matter to calculate damages in both tort and contract cases.
FALSE. Contract only.
What is the Lesser of Two rule from In re September 11th Litigation?
A plaintiff whose property has been injured may recover the lesser of the diminution of the property's market value or its replacement cost. This rule applies even when the property in question has been completely destroyed.
What are wrongful acts and examples?
Courts may enjoin conduct that is unlawful or tortious on its face. Examples: preventing trespass, stopping patent/copyright infringement, halting discrimination, or stopping breaches of fiduciary duty.
What is the Efficient Breach theory?
Good faith breach. When transaction costs between the parties are low, we need an injunction. Where costs are higher, economists are less favorable on specific performance because of ongoing burden and added costs in litigation, etc.
What are emotional distress damages?
Emotional distress damages are a form of relief aimed at compensating individuals for emotional harm or injury caused by the unlawful conduct at issue.
What are the four competing approaches to evaluating the enforceability of liquidated damages clauses?
1. Disfavoring Penalties
2. The Shock to the Conscience Test
3. The Restatement of Contracts Test
4. Deference to Contracting Parties
What is fair market value?
"The fair market value of a property is the "price to which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts."
What are Lawful Acts with Wrongful Consequences and examples?
Even if conduct is technically lawful, courts may issue injunctions when the consequences are wrongful or unjust.
Examples:
The focus is not the legality of the act itself, but the equitable balancing of rights and harms
What is opportunistic breach?
Nah, you are not a good faith contracting party. We still consider you good faith to breach to have more efficient use of asset, but once you cross the line and not playing nice, you being "opportunistic" and no longer "reasonable to make profit to be efficient."
When may a federal grant be deemed invalid? (Limitations on Spending Clause Litigation)
a federal grant might be invalid if the financial inducement for the recipient became so coercive as to pass the point at which pressure turns into compulsion.
Does the UCC require the invalidation of an exclusion of consequential damages when limited contractual remedies fail of their essential purpose?
NO. "The better reasoned approach is to treat the consequential damage disclaimer as an independent provision, valid unless unconscionable."