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Measure of Damages for Breach of a Contract to Purchase Real Property

By Stewart E. Sterk

Suppose a buyer contracts to purchase a retail shopping center for $10 million, paying a deposit of $100,000. Two weeks later, the buyer has second thoughts, and informs the seller that it will not close on the sale contract, and that buyer is prepared to forfeit the deposit. The seller makes immediate efforts to resell the center, but within three months, the area's major employer announces the closing of its plant. A year later, the seller resells for $7 million. What damages may the seller recover from the original breaching buyer? In White v. Farrell, decided last month, the Court of Appeals suggested ' over the objection of two concurring judges ' that the answer might be zero. But because White v. Farrell itself did not present the stark facts suggested in the introductory hypothetical, some chance remains that the hypothetical seller could recover damages.

The White Case

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