N.C.P.I.—Civil 504.18

The (state number) issue reads:

"What amount of money damages 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. Nominal damages consist of some

trivial amount such as one dollar in recognition of the technical damage

resulting from the breach.

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

damages sustained, if any, as a result of the breach.

The law provides that where a buyer has accepted goods

notwithstanding the seller's breach of contract and has given the seller

notice of the breach within a reasonable time after the buyer discovers or

should have discovered the breach,1

[the buyer may recover as damages for any non-conforming tender

the loss resulting in the ordinary course of events from the seller's breach

as determined by you in any manner that is reasonable]2

[the buyer may recover as damages for breach of warranty the

difference between the value of the (name good) as it would have been

at the time and place of acceptance if it had conformed to the contract

and the value of the (name good) as it was at the time and place of

acceptance]3

[the buyer may recover as damages for breach of warranty the

amount which, by reason of special circumstances, is necessary to place

the buyer in the same position he would have occupied had there been no

breach of contract]4

(plus)

(the buyer may recover incidental damages proximately resulting

from the seller's breach. (These include any reasonable expense incident

to the delay or other breach))5

(plus)

(the buyer may recover consequential damages proximately

resulting from the seller's breach. These include any loss resulting from

general or particular requirements and needs of which the seller at the

time of contracting had reason to know and which could not reasonably

have been prevented by the purchase of substitute goods or otherwise

(and injury to person or property proximately resulting from any breach of

contract).)6

The plaintiff's damages are to be reasonably determined from the

evidence presented. The plaintiff is not required to prove with

mathematical certainty the extent of the financial injury in order to

recover damages. Thus, the plaintiff should not be denied damages

simply because they cannot be calculated with exactness or a high degree

of mathematical certainty. However, an award of damages must be

based on evidence which shows the amount of the plaintiff's damages

with reasonable certainty. You may not award any damages based upon

mere speculation or conjecture.

Finally, as to this (state number) issue upon which the plaintiff has

the burden of proof, if you find by the greater weight of the evidence the

amount of damages sustained by the plaintiff by reason of the

defendant's breach of contract, then it would be your duty to write that

amount in the blank space provided.

If, on the other hand, you fail to so find, then it would be your duty

to write a nominal amount such as "One Dollar" in the blank space

provided.