Cannon v. Yankee Products Co., Inc.
Superior Court of Delaware
394 A.2d 867 (Del. Super. Ct. 1978)
Restaurant owner Cannon (plaintiff) regularly bought peas from Yankee Products (defendant) based on assurances of good quality, and when a patron found a worm in the peas and loudly reacted, other patrons who were merely refunded and left, and word of the incident spread, causing a subsequent decline in Cannon's business despite his efforts to counteract it with longer hours and more staff. Cannon sued for breach of express and implied warranties and negligence, presenting evidence of diminished sales but not of the specific profit lost from those diminished sales, and the trial court found for Cannon on all counts and awarded him lost profits; Yankee Products appealed.
Whether a plaintiff can recover lost profits for breach of contract or negligence without evidence both that the breach or negligence proximately caused the lost profits and of the actual amount of profits lost.