Mistletoe Express Service v. Locke case brief

Mistletoe Express Service v. Locke case brief summary
762 S.W.2d 637 (1988)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Appellant company sought review of a judgment from the 62nd District Court, Lamar County (Texas), which awarded damages and attorney's fees for breach of contract in an action brought by appellee, an individual doing business as a freight company. Appellant claimed there was no evidence to support the damages which the jury awarded.

CASE FACTS
Appellant company challenged a jury verdict in favor of appellee, an individual doing business as a freight company, in a breach of contract action brought after appellant prematurely terminated the contract.

DISCUSSION

• On appeal, appellant claimed that appellee could only recover the profits lost by reason of the breach. 
• The court found that appellee was entitled to recover the amount of the expenditures she incurred to perform the contract because appellee was deprived of an opportunity to recoup those expenditures. 
• Appellant was not entitled to have appellee's losses deducted from the recovery because appellant had the burden to prove that amount, if any, and it did not do so. 
• The court, however, recalculated the amount of the judgment to accurately reflect appellee's reliance damages and to eliminate any double recovery. 
• As reformed, the judgment was affirmed.

CONCLUSION
The court recalculated the amount of reliance damages to which appellee was entitled and eliminated any double recovery. In so doing, the court affirmed the judgment, as reformed. The court found that appellee was entitled to recover the reliance expenditures appellee incurred to perform the contract.

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