Ames Linen Service, a Division of Cortland Laundry, Inc., Respondent, v. Gus Katz, Also Known as Konstantinos Katsiroumbas, Doing Business as A-1 Pizzeria, Appellant., 8 A.D.3d 945

Summary

The linen service terminated the parties' contract prior to the end of its term. The appellate court held the trial court properly found the restaurant's damages were not easily ascertainable. The service's calculation of the restaurant's initial purchases did not consider (1) the difficulty of ascertaining the useful life of the items purchased, (2) the restaurant's cost of replacing the initial inventory as it wore out during the contract term before the service's breach, (3) the restaurant's labor and capital costs, or (4) the uncertainty that the restaurant could re-lease the inventory. The trial court properly found the liquidated damages amount in the parties' contract was reasonably proportionate to the restaurant's probable loss and was not an unenforceable penalty.