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This case involved a dispute between a garment manufacturer and a garment retailer. The retailer had agreed to purchase some made-to-order clothing from the manufacturer, but later cancelled that order. After the cancellation, the garment manufacturer did not attempt to sell the clothing to another buyer but instead kept the garments until it eventually donated them to charity. The manufacturer sued the retail buyer for the full original contract price of the garments. The trial court found that the manufacturer failed to mitigate its damages and awarded judgment to the retailer.

On appeal, the Court agreed that the manufacturer had failed to mitigate its damages and, therefore, was not entitled to the full contract price for those garments. Therefore, the manufacturer should have introduced some evidence of its actual losses.


We were not involved in this case and have no knowledge of the circumstances other than what's contained in this opinion. Therefore, it may be that the evidence that the Court would have approved of did not exist. Nevertheless, this case should be a reminder to counsel to marshal all evidence regarding damages that they can, particularly when the defendant can make a defense (such as the failure to mitigate) that can materially affect your theory of damages.

Brad A. Catlin
Price Waicukauski & Riley, LLC
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