N.C.P.I.—Civil 503.06

NOTE WELL: This is the first component of the compensatory

damages series which runs through N.C.P.I.—Civil 503.79

(Contracts—Issue of Common Law Remedy—Damages Mandate).

Select direct, incidental and consequential damages instructions

as appropriate.

The (state number) issue reads:

“What amount is the plaintiff entitled to recover from the defendant for

breach of contract?”

If you have answered the (state number) issue “Yes” in favor of the

plaintiff, the plaintiff is entitled to recover nominal damages even without

proof of actual damages.1 Nominal damages consist of some trivial amount

such as one dollar in recognition of the technical damage resulting from the

breach.2

The plaintiff may also be entitled to recover actual damages. On this

issue the burden of proof is on the plaintiff. This means that the plaintiff must

prove, by the greater weight of the evidence, the amount of actual damages

sustained as a result of the breach. Actual damages are the fair compensation

to be awarded to a person for any [past] [present] [future]3 economic injury

resulting from a breach of contract.

A party damaged by a breach of contract is entitled to be placed, insofar

as this can be done by money, in the same position that party would have

occupied if there had been no breach of the contract.4

In determining the amount, if any, you award the plaintiff, you will

consider the evidence you have heard as to (each of the following types of

damages):

[Direct damages]

[Incidental damages]

[Consequential damages]

[state any other type of damages supported by the evidence].

The total of all damages are to be awarded in one lump sum.

I will now explain the law of damages as it related to each of these.

[Direct damages are the economic losses that usually or customarily

result5 from a breach of contract and that might accrue to any person similarly

injured.6]

NOTE WELL: Definitions for each type of damages are provided

elsewhere in these Instructions.

• As to direct damages, consider substituting or supplementing the

above definition with a more specific definition based on one or more

of the direct damages instructions at N.C.P.I.—Civil 503.12

(Contracts—Issue of Common Law Remedy—Direct Damages—

Buyer’s Measure of Recovery for a Seller’s Breach of Contract to

Convey Real Property) through N.C.P.I.—Civil 503.54 (Contracts—

Issue of Common Law Remedy—Direct Damages—Employer’s

Measure of Recovery for Employee’s Wrongful Termination of an

Employment Contract).

• As to incidental damages, see N.C.P.I.—Civil 503.70 (Contracts—

Issue of Common Law Remedy—Incidental Damages).

• As to consequential damages, see N.C.P.I.—Civil 503.73 (Contracts—

Issue of Common Law Remedy—Consequential Damages).