Also known as: quantify damages · quantified damages · quantifying damages · damages quantification · assessment of damages · measure of damages
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The process by which a court determines the monetary compensation due for a breach of contract or tortious injury. The assessment focuses on placing the injured party in the position performance or non-injury would have produced, subject to limits such as certainty, foreseeability, and mitigation.
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Quoc Quan paid architects and surveyors to prepare plans for a warehouse he contracted to build for Quartz Energy. When Quartz Energy repudiated before construction began, Quoc Quan recovered his out-of-pocket preparation costs because expectation damages could not be proven with reasonable certainty. The court subtracted any loss Quartz Energy proved Quoc Quan would have incurred even if the contract had been performed.
Queenie Quinones leased retail space from Quantum Dynamics expecting to open a store. After Quantum Dynamics failed to deliver possession, Queenie recovered the fair market value of the lease on termination plus her reasonably foreseeable pre-default expenditures for fixtures and inventory. The court ensured no double recovery by netting the items against each other.
Quincy Quigley died after a defective product caused his fatal injuries. His surviving spouse Quinlan Quezada sued under the state wrongful death statute. The court applied the statute's wording and judicial interpretation to decide whether she could recover lost future earnings, medical expenses incurred before death, and loss of society.
Quest Pharmaceuticals contracted to buy bulk chemicals from Quintessential Goods at a fixed price. Quintessential Goods repudiated when market prices rose. Quest Pharmaceuticals recovered the difference between the higher market price on the date it learned of the breach and the contract price, plus incidental costs, minus any expenses saved.
Quade Quincy operated a factory emitting pollutants that damaged neighboring property owned by Quentin Quinn. Quentin sought an injunction. The court weighed the nature of the harm, the difficulty of proving the exact amount of damages, the cost of repeated suits, and the collectibility of a judgment to decide whether monetary damages provided an adequate remedy.
Quantum Dynamics sold equipment to Quartz Energy under a contract that limited remedies to repair or replacement of defective parts. When the equipment failed, Quartz Energy sought broader damages. The court enforced the contractual limit because the exclusive remedy did not fail of its essential purpose.
A party may recover reliance damages as an alternative when expectation damages cannot be proven with reasonable certainty. The recovery includes expenditures made in preparation or performance, reduced by any loss the breaching party proves the injured party would have suffered even if the contract had been performed.
The buyer recovers the difference between the market price at the time the buyer learned of the breach and the contract price, together with incidental and consequential damages, less expenses saved because of the breach.
…to the case because “it is clear by what we think is undoubtedly the better view of the law that the rules for ascertaining the measure of damages are not a matter of procedure at all, but are matters of substance which should be settled by reference to the law of the appropriate state according to the type of case being tried in the…
…review. Common-law courts were hesitant to disturb jury awards, but less so in cases in which "a reasonably certain measure of damages
…right of any claimant to a trial by court of competent jurisdiction on the question of liability for such loss or injury, or the measure of damages
…conduct chargeable to the defendants . . .' as defined by the traditional law of torts. . . . Thus there is nothing in the measure of damages
…in North Carolina, 44 N. C. L. Rev. 402, 405-406, nn. 17, 18 (1966), does not present difficulties more insurmountable than assessment of damages
The measure depends on the wording of the statute creating the right of action and the courts' interpretation of that statute.
Yes. An agreement may provide for remedies in addition to or in substitution for those otherwise available and may limit damages to return of the goods, repayment of the price, or repair and replacement of nonconforming goods.
The court considers the nature of the interests harmed, the effects of damage-measurement rules, the availability of evidence, the cost of assessing damages, the cost of multiple suits, the collectibility of a judgment, and other pertinent factors.