352. Loss of Profits--No Profits Earned Instruction No 1 Request by Plaintiff Given as Proposed Refused Withdrawn Request by Defendant Given as Modified Requested by Given on Court's Motion Judge Instruction No 1 To recover damages for lost profits, [name of plaintiff] must prove that it is reasonably certain [he/she/it] would have earned profits but for [name of defendant]'s breach of the contract. To decide the amount of damages for lost profits, you must determine the gross, or total, amount [name of plaintiff] would have received if the contract had been performed and then subtract from that amount the costs [including the value of the [labor/materials/rents/expenses/interest on loans invested in the business]] [name of plaintiff] would have had if the contract had been performed. You do not have to calculate the amount of the lost profits with mathematical precision, but there must be a reasonable basis for computing the loss. ___________________________________________________________________________ New September 2003