Port Blakely Mill Co. v. Sharkey

102 F. 259, 42 C.C.A. 329, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4547
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 7, 1900
DocketNo. 563
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 102 F. 259 (Port Blakely Mill Co. v. Sharkey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Port Blakely Mill Co. v. Sharkey, 102 F. 259, 42 C.C.A. 329, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4547 (9th Cir. 1900).

Opinion

GILBERT, Circuit Judge,

after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

The question presented in this case is: What is the measure of damages for breach of contract by a carrier whereby the delivery of goods at the place designated in the contract of affreightment is delayed in a case in which profits would have been earned but for the delay, and where' the carrier had notice at the time of making the contract of the necessity for prompt delivery and of the prospective profits? May such profits be taken into consideration in estimating the damages? The general rule is thus stated:

“No recovery can be had for loss of profits in contracts of sale made or contemplated by the shipper, unless the facts and circumstances of such sale are communicated to the carrier upon shipment.”

5 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (2d Ed.) 396; Pacific Exp. Co. v. Darnell Bros., 62 Tex. 639; Railway Co. v. Gilbert (Tex. Civ. App.) 23 S. W. 320; Brown v. Hadley (Kan. Sup.) 23 Pac. 492; Brownell v. Chapman, 84 Iowa, 604, 61 N. W. 249; Railroad Co. v. Ragsdale, 46 Miss. 458; Manufacturing Co. v. Pinch (Mich.) 51 N. W. 930; New Market Co. v. Embry (Ky.) 48 S. W. 980; Grindle v. Express Co., 67 Me. 317; Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Cobb, Christy & Co., 64 Ill. 128.

The reason of the rule is that the contract of affreightment is presumed to have been made in view of- the results which, to the knowledge of both parties thereto, would naturally follow its breach. While there is respectable • authority for holding that profits are never in any case recoverable, since it may never certainly be known that profits might have been earned, the weight of authority, both English and ' American, sustains the rule that the party injured is entitled to' recover all his damages, including gains that he might have earned as well as losses that he sustained, provided that they are certain, and that they are such as might naturally have been expected to follow the breach.

In Hadley v. Baxendale, 26 Eng. Law & Eq. 398, in an action against a common carrier for negligent delay in delivery, Alderson, B., said:

“Where two parties have made a contract, which one of them has broken, the damages which the other party ought to receive in respect of such breach of contract should be such as may fairly and reasonably be considered either arising naturally, — i. e. according to the natural course of things from such breach of the contract itself, — or such as may reasonably be supposed to have been in the contemplation of both parties at the time they made the contract as the probable result of the breach of it.”

[261]*261In Simpson v. Railroad Co., 1 Q. B. Div. 274, Cockburn, C. J., said:

“The principle is now settled that, whenever either the object of the sender is specially brought to the notice of the carrier, or circumstances are known to the carrier from which the object ought in reason to be inferred, so that the object may be taken to have been within the contemplation of both parties, damages may be recovered for the natural consequences of the failure of that object.”

In that case the plaintiff was allowed damages for loss of time and loss of profit on the ground that “loss of profit was a natural and probable result of the failure” of his purpose.

The plaintiff in error relies upon certain decisions, which, it is contended, sustain a contrary doctrine; such as Howard v. Manufacturing Co., 139 U. S. 199, 11 Sup. Ct. 500, 35 L. Ed. 147; Railroad Co. v. Hale, 83 Ill. 300; Allis v. McLean, 48 Mich. 428, 12 N. W. 640; Machine Co. v. Bryson, 44 Iowa, 159; Harvey v. Railroad Co., 124 Mass. 423; The Golden Rule (C. C.) 9 Fed. 334.

In Howard v. Manufacturing Co. it is true that the court said that the grounds upon which the rule of excluding profits in estimating damages in certain cases rests “are (1) that in the greater number of cases such expected profits are too dependent upon numerous, uncertain, and changing contingencies to constitute a definite and trustworthy measure of actual damages; (2) because such loss of profits is ordinarily remote, and not, as a matter of course, the direct and immediate result of the nonfulfillment of the contract.” The case was one which involved the question whether damages were recoverable for loss of anticipated profits to the defendant from the plaintiff’s failure to construct a flouring mill at a date specified in the contract. From the record it would appear that time was not made of the essence of the contract, and, as the court said, there were no “special circumstances attending the transaction from which an understanding between the parties could be inferred that the plaintiff was to make good any loss of profits incurred by a delay in furnishing and pulling up such machinery according to the terms of the contract.” It was upon that ground that damages on the basis of profits that might have been earned were denied. But the court in that case proceeded, after the language above quoted, to express the general doctrine, which is applicable to the present case:

“But it is equally well settled that the profits which would have been realized had the contract been performed, and which have been prevented by its breach, are included in the damages to he recovered in every case where such profits are not open to the objection of uncertainty or of remoteness; or where, from the express or implied terms of the contract itself, or the special circumstances under which it was made, it may be reasonably presumed that they were within the intent and mutual understanding of both parties at the time it was entered into.”

In Railroad Co. v. Hale it was not averred or proved that the carrier had notice of the intended use of the property.' The remarks of the court as to the uncertainty of the expected profits in that case were directed to a subject that was not necessarily involved. In Allis v. McLean it was held that profits which might have been earned by the use of a sawmill if the machinery therefor had been furnished within the time specified in the contract could not be considered in [262]*262estimating damages, for the reason, as stated by Judge Cooley, “that they are commonly uncertain and speculative, and depend upon so many contingencies that their loss cannot be traced with reasonable certainty to the breach of contract.” The learned judge, however, proceeded to say:

“But in some eases profits are the best possible measure of damage, for tlie very reason that the loss is indisputable, and the amount can be estimated with almost absolute certainty.”

A later decision by the same court may be regarded as favoring a more liberal doctrine. Manufacturing Co. v. Pinch, 51 N. W. 980. In that case it was held that in a suit to recover for machinery and repairs furnished for defendant’s flouring mill he was entitled to show, in reduction of plaintiff’s claim, the value of the use of the mill while it was compelled to lie idle by the failure of plaintiff to complete the contract to repair within the time specified. The court quoted from Sedg. Dam. (8th Ed.) par. 174:

“As a general rule, the expected profits of a business cannot be proved, and therefore cannot be recovered. They might have been made and they might not.

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Bluebook (online)
102 F. 259, 42 C.C.A. 329, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4547, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/port-blakely-mill-co-v-sharkey-ca9-1900.