Expectation Damages 1

CONTRACTSChapter 6. Remedies

Ch.6C

Punitive Damages 2

Remedies

A contracts to sell Blackacre to B for $100K

B pays A a $1K deposit

B spends $4K preparing for move

Before transfer, market value of Blackacre rises to $150K

A refuses to transfer title to B

Ch.6A

Punitive Damages 3

Hawkins v. McGee - Redux How does the trial court measure

damages? How does the New Hampshire Supreme

Court measure damages? What else might the court have done?

Ch.6A

Remedies 4

What damages should the doctor pay?

Mr. Hart’s answer: Difference between burned hand and hairy hand

New Hampshire Supreme Court’s answer: Difference between 100% perfect (or good) hand and hairy hand

A third option: Doctor’s fee

November 15

Reliance Damages (349)

Expectation Damages (347)

Restitution Damages (373)

Remedies 5

Expectation Damages

GOAL: To put non-breaching party in as good a position as if breaching party had fully performed.

CALCULATING: How do we compute damages to achieve this goal? Direct damages=Loss in value of subject

matter of K due to breach (loss in value of performance)

Consequential damages=Losses resulting from breach which are reasonably foreseeable & unavoidable▪ incidental: costs of securing a substitute performance

Class 35

Expectation Damages 6

J.O. Hooker & Sons, Inc. v. Roberts Cabinet Co.

How are expectation damages awarded if there is an available substitute transaction?

How are expectation damages awarded if there is no available substitute transaction?

What if the contract is partially performed? What costs are considered?

Ch.6C

Expectation Damages 7

Groves v. John Wunder Co.

Diminution in Value v. Cost of Performance

What is the breach? What is the cost of performance? What is

the diminution in value? What does the court find to be the proper

measure of Groves’s loss? Why? What does the trial court argue? What if the breach was willful?

Ch.6C

Expectation Damages 8

Peevyhouse v. Garland Coal & Mining Co.

What is the breach at issue? What is the cost of performance? What is

the diminution in value? What does the court find to be the proper

measure of loss to the Peevyhouses? Why?

What is the dissent’s argument? What about economic waste?

Ch.6C