Wilson v. Hays

W.D. Hays (plaintiff) orally agreed to buy 600,000 used, uncleaned bricks from Bobby Wilson (defendant) at one cent per brick and paid $6,000 in advance, but Wilson delivered fewer bricks than promised. Hays sued for breach, seeking the price of undelivered bricks plus consequential damages, but presented no evidence that he tried to cover by buying substitute bricks or otherwise mitigate, and no evidence supporting lost profits. The jury nonetheless found Hays lost $6,250 in profits, saved $2,605 in expenses, and had net lost profits of $3,645. Wilson appealed.

Whether, in a buyer's action for breach of a sale-of-goods contract, consequential damages are recoverable when the buyer presents no evidence of attempting to mitigate damages.