CHARTER AIR CENTER, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
RESORTS INTERNATIONAL, INC., AND GB MANAGEMENT, LTD., APPELLEES
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Charter Air Center sued Resorts International for breach of a contract to transport gamblers to the Bahamas. After the first trial resulted in a verdict for Charter, this court affirmed liability but found the trial court erred by awarding both reliance costs and lost profits, remanding for a new trial on damages. On remand, Charter elected to recover lost profits under the contract's "plus fifteen percent" provision, and this court reverses the denial of summary judgment and orders judgment for Charter.
Charter is entitled to summary judgment. Once Charter elected to pursue damages under the "plus fifteen percent" cost-plus provision, which the contract specified as a sufficient measure of its lost profits, summary judgment should have been granted as a matter of law without requiring a trial on extraneous issues.
[1] A party electing to seek expectation damages on remand is entitled to summary judgment when the contract provision for those damages allows for a sufficiently accurate ap…
[2] A party cannot recover both reliance costs and lost profits for breach of contract; an election must be made.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The contractual agreement between Charter and Resorts provides for a measure of profits of fifteen percent over the cost of operating the airline service for the minimum number of hours required by the contract. Since this measure allows for a sufficiently accurate approximation of Charter's lost profit, it may recover its expectation damages.”
Establishes that the contract's fifteen percent provision provides a legally sufficient measure of damages allowing recovery of expectation damages without further proof.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCharter Air Center contracted with Resorts International to transport gamblers to the Bahamas for gambling at Resorts' casino. The contract included a…
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LEVY, Judge.
Charter Air Center, Inc., the plaintiff/counter-defendant below, brought suit against Resorts International, Inc. for breach of a contract agreement whereby Charter was to transport gamblers to the Bahamas for gambling in Resorts’ casino. At the first trial, a verdict was entered in favor of Charter, and the jury, inter alia, awarded Charter $450,000 under the “plus fifteen percent” above cost of operation provision in the contract, in addition to awarding Charter costs for expenditures Charter made in reliance upon the contract. Resorts appealed claiming, inter alia, that the “plus fifteen percent” could not be considered as profit, and was required to be reduced by other overhead and expenses. This court affirmed the determination as to liability; however we found that the trial court erred in awarding Charter damages for both its reliance costs and its lost profits, and remanded the case for a second trial on the issue of damages alone, with Charter being required to make an election as to whether it desired to seek its reliance costs or its lost profits. Resorts International, Inc. v. Charter Air Center, Inc., 503 So. 2d 1293 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987).
At the second trial, on damages only, Charter elected to seek to recover the fifteen percent profit on the minimum hours guaranteed under the contract and, accordingly, moved for summary judgment. That motion was denied, and the case proceeded to trial where evidence was introduced as to several extraneous issues. Charter was awarded no damages. We reverse.
In Resorts, 503 So. 2d at 1296, we stated that: “The contractual agreement between Charter and Resorts provides for a measure of profits of fifteen percent over the cost of operating the airline service for the minimum number of hours required by the contract. Since this measure allows for a sufficiently accurate approximation of Charter’s lost profit, it may recover its expectation damages.” Charter was allowed to elect the damages it chose to seek on remand. Once it elected the cost plus fifteen percent provision as its damages, it was entitled to a summary judgment. Accordingly, we reverse and remand to the trial court with instructions to grant summary judgment in favor of Charter pursuant to the terms of the “fifteen percent” contract provision.
Reversed and remanded with instructions.
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Citator
Authorities Cited
- Resorts Int'l, Inc. v. Charter AIR Ctr., Inc., 503 So. 2d 1293 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)