Rethinking the Law of Contract Damages

In this series of chapters on contract damages issues, Victor P. Goldberg provides a framework for analyzing the problems that arise when determining damages, and applies it to case law in both the USA and the UK. In analyzing direct damages, the author treats the problem as pricing the option to terminate. This sheds light on the question of the date at which damages should be measured and the role of post-breach information in damage assessment. It shows how the treatment of the so-called lost volume seller in both countries results in the court constructing an absurd contract, setting an option price with perverse characteristics. Goldberg then considers two questions regarding consequential damages--the enforceability of consequential damages exclusion clauses and whether the lost profits claims of new businesses should be rejected. Contracts professors, judges, lawyers and law students will be inspired by this volume to rethink the law of contract damages.