|
Sargent v. Tomhegan Camps
Back to Opinions page
MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT Reporter of Decisions
Decision: 2000 ME 58
Docket: Som-99-533
Submitted
on Briefs: January 28, 2000
Decided: April 4, 2000
Panel: WATHEN, C.J., and CLIFFORD, RUDMAN, DANA, SAUFLEY, ALEXANDER, and
CALKINS, JJ.
DANIEL SARGENT et al.
v.
TOMHEGAN CAMPS OWNERS ASSOCIATION
CALKINS, J.
[¶1] Tomhegan Camps Owners Association (TCOA) appeals the
judgment of the Superior Court (Somerset County, Kravchuk, C.J.), affirming
the judgment of the District Court (Skowhegan, Clapp, J.). TCOA contends
that the court erred in finding that Daniel and Carol Sargent suffered a loss
resulting from TCOA's breach of their employment contract. The trial court
found that Daniel and Carol Sargent had an employment contract with TCOA
which TCOA breached. TCOA has not appealed the court's findings that
there was a contract or that it was breached. The only issue on appeal is
whether the Sargents have proven damages. We modify the judgment.
I. FACTS
[¶2] TCOA is a camp association consisting of a set of sporting camps
and a lodge located on Moosehead Lake, ten miles from Rockwood, in
Somerset County. The Sargents, a married couple, were hired by TCOA to
work as caretakers and managers. One of the cabins was provided to them
as a residence. They worked for TCOA from January 1, 1995, until
June 1995, when they were evicted from the cabin at Tomhegan in which
they were residing. The trial court found: "The contract did not require
that the Sargents live on the premises, but the provision of living
arrangements in the manager's cabin, the nature of their duties, and the
remoteness of the facility made it impossible to perform without them being
resident." The trial court found that the eviction was a breach of the
employment contract.
[¶3] By July 18, 1995, approximately two weeks after the
employment contract was terminated, the Sargents had moved from
Tomhegan. On that date, Daniel Sargent began employment at a lumber
company in Livermore Falls, and by the end of that month, Carol Sargent had
also found new employment. The trial court found that the combined
income of the Sargents from their new jobs exceeded the compensation of
$375 weekly that they would have been paid under the employment
contract with TCOA.{1} The court concluded that the amount owed under the
TCOA contract to the Sargents should not be reduced because of the
earnings from the Sargents' new jobs. The court stated: "The contract did
not prohibit the Sargents from outside employment during its pendency and
it should not somehow become a material issue after [TCOA's] breach."
[¶4] The court found that the contractual term of employment
expired on November 30, 1995, and that the Sargents were paid by TCOA
for their services through June 30, 1995. The court awarded damages to
the Sargents, for TCOA's breach of the employment contract, in the amount
of $8,062.50, calculated at $375 per week for the period from July 1, 1995,
through November 30, 1995.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
[¶5] When the Superior Court acts as an intermediate appellate court,
we review the decision of the trial court directly. See Department of Human
Serv. v. Sabattus, 683 A.2d 170, 171 (Me. 1996). We review findings of fact
of the trial court for clear error, and we uphold the trial court's findings
unless there is no evidence to support them. See Sturtevant v. Town of
Winthrop, 1999 ME 84, ¶ 9, 732 A.2d 264, 267.
III. DAMAGES
[¶6] It is the rule in Maine, and the majority of jurisdictions, that the
measure of damages from an employer's breach of an employment contract
is the amount of wages that would be due the employee under the contract,
less any amount of wages actually earned by the employee or that could have
been earned by reasonable diligence. See State Dev. Office v. State
Employees Appeals Bd., 363 A.2d 688, 691 (Me. 1976) (holding that
wrongfully discharged state employee did not abandon his claim for back pay
and reinstatement by taking interim job); Sutherland v. Wyer, 67 Me. 64, 69
(1877) (requiring deduction of actual wages earned during contract term by
discharged plaintiff); Mason County Bd. of Educ. v. State Superintendent of
Sch., 295 S.E.2d 719 (W. Va. 1982) (adopting the majority rule that
terminated employees have a duty to mitigate damages).
[¶7] This general rule is modified in the situation where the
employee could have held the new job while still working at the first
employment. We noted that:
when an employee who has been discharged in breach of an
employment contract can find other similar employment in the
same community, the wages which were earned, or could have
been earned, in the similar employment, should be deducted
from the employee's recovery only if the taking of the second job
would not have been possible if employment under the first
contract continued; if the employee could have performed both
jobs there should be no reduction in the damages recovered
from the defaulting party for the wages which were earned or
could have been earned.
Lisbon Sch. Comm. v. Lisbon Educ. Ass'n, 438 A.2d 239, 244 n.5 (Me. 1981)
(quoting 22 Am. Jur. 2d Damages § 34 (1965)).
[¶8] Another jurisdiction has stated the proposition as follows:
The theory underlying a suit for back salary is to make the
employee whole -- to compensate him to the extent that the
wrongful deprivation of salary has resulted in financial loss. For
that reason the amount recoverable is to be reduced by his other
earnings during the period of separation insofar as such income
would have been incompatible with performance of his duties to
his erring employer.
People ex rel. Bourne v. Johnson, 205 N.E.2d 470, 473 (Ill. 1965). In the
Bourne case, for a substantial period of time before the employee was fired
from his civil service position, he held a second job, working nights. The
court concluded that because the two jobs were not incompatible, the
employee should not be penalized by allowing the breaching employer a
deduction for the earnings from the night job.
[¶9] Here, the trial court found, and the fact was not disputed, that by
the end of July 1995, the Sargents were earning more from their new
employment than the remuneration to which they were entitled under the
contract with TCOA. In light of their earnings from their new jobs, it would
be possible for the Sargents to recover the entire amount of wages due them
under the TCOA contract only if they were able to demonstrate that they
could have earned their new wages while still performing the TCOA
contract.
[¶10] The Sargents had the burden of proving that they were
damaged by the breach of contract. See Dairy Farm Leasing Co., Inc. v.
Hartley, 395 A.2d 1135, 1140-41 (Me. 1978). The burden of proving a
failure to mitigate damages or a failure to avoid consequences is on a
defendant, see Kenaston v. School Admin. Dist. #40, 317 A.2d 7, 11 (Me.
1974), and TCOA met that burden by proving the actual earnings of the
Sargents following the discharge.{2} The Sargents did not present any
evidence to demonstrate that their new employment was compatible with
the TCOA work, that is, that they could have worked at their new jobs in
Livermore Falls, which is approximately 120 miles from Rockwood, and still
fulfill their responsibilities under the TCOA contract. Thus, the court was
unable to make a finding of compatibility of the new jobs with the TCOA
contract. The Sargents demonstrated that the TCOA contract did not
prohibit them from other employment, but that proof only allowed the court
to find that the contract was not exclusive. The lack of any proof on
compatibility, combined with the court's finding that the remoteness of the
Tomhegan location made it impossible for the Sargents to perform the
TCOA job without residing there, requires our conclusion that the Sargents
failed to prove their entitlement to the amount of damages awarded by the
District Court.
[¶11] Neither party has addressed specifically the issue of the
Sargents' entitlement to damages for the two-week period of time before
Daniel Sargent obtained new employment. In the absence of argument on
this issue we find no reason to disturb the court's award of damages for that
period of time.
The entry is:
Case remanded to the Superior Court with
instructions to remand to the District Court for
the entry of judgment for the plaintiffs in the
amount of $750, and as so modified, the
judgment is affirmed.
Attorney for plaintiffs:
Wm. Thomas Hyde, Esq.
Merrill, Hyde, Fortier & Youney, P.A.
P O Box 3100
Skowhegan, ME 04976
Attorney for defendant:
Anthony P. Shusta II, Esq.
P O Box 170
Madison, ME 04950
FOOTNOTES******************************** {1} . Daniel Sargent testified
that he started his new job as a millwright at a lumber company in Livermore
Falls earning $8.50 per hour, working fifty to fifty-five hours per week.
This equals $425 to $468 weekly. He testified that his wife began working
at a supermarket earning over $5.00 per hour, working twenty hours per week.
From July 18, 1995, through November 30, 1995, Daniel Sargent would have
earned $8075 working 50 hours per week at $8.50 per hour. {2} . At the close
of the Sargents' case, TCOA moved for judgment on the grounds that the Sargents
failed to prove damages. The Sargents did not argue that the new and old
employments were compatible. Instead, they argued that they were owed two
weeks worth of contract damages for the two weeks they were out of work
and they were owed "quality of life" damages because living and
working on a lake shore is better than working in a lumber mill. The court
took the motion under advisement and, by previous agreement of the parties,
the evidentiary record remained open to allow the parties to take the deposition
of a TCOA witness.
|