Fera v. Village Plaza, Inc.
Michigan Supreme Court
396 Mich. 639, 242 N.W.2d 372 (1976)

- Written by Christine Hilgeman, JD
Facts
Mr. Fera (plaintiff) entered into a ten-year lease with Fairborn-Village Plaza (Fairborn) (defendant) for commercial space in the shopping center Fairborn was in the process of building. The lease called for payment of a minimum monthly rent plus five percent of annual receipts, except for liquor sales receipts which were excluded when Fera gave up some space for rental to another tenant. The premises were not ready for occupancy when agreed due to work stoppages and other delays, and in the meantime, the bank providing financing for the project took over management. When the premises were eventually ready for occupancy, the lease had been lost and the space rented to another tenant. Since no other space was a suitable substitute, Fera sued for lost anticipated profits. After days of testimony by fact and expert witnesses on the amount of anticipated profits, including testimony that the license to sell liquor would have been denied, the jury returned a $200,000 verdict for Fera. The Court of Appeals reversed holding that the trial court erred by permitting damages for lost anticipated profit because a new business was not entitled to such damages and because the proof presented at trial of anticipated profit was too speculative. The order of the Court of Appeals was appealed to the Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kavanagh, C.J.)
Concurrence/Dissent (Coleman, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.