Breach of Contract – Employment

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Bassam Assaf v. Trinity Medical Center

Case No.: 15-2587

Officials: EASTERBROOK, ROVNER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Breach of Contract – Employment

Appellant fails to provide adequate proof for loss of professional fees with supporting evidence.

“The problem with this claim, however, is that those professional fees were not paid to Assaf. The fees were paid directly to the practice, and Assaf concedes on appeal that he had no ownership interest in that practice and that the fees did not accrue to him personally. Assaf acknowledges that because of his immigration status, the practice is owned by his wife not by him. Moreover, Assaf does not claim that his salary or other compensation was affected by the alleged decrease in professional fees. In fact, in his brief and at oral argument, he conceded that he is not claiming a loss of income. Therefore, Assaf is attempting to claim damages for a loss of professional fees to the practice, and to his wife as owner of that practice, which did not adversely impact his own income. His wife is not a party to this action, and Assaf has failed to establish that he, as opposed to his wife or the practice, experienced any loss of professional fees. In fact, on appeal he asserts that it does not matter where the fees would have gone, but only that they were generated by his performance of services. But Assaf received a salary for those services which was unchanged throughout the time period at issue, and he denies on appeal that his salary or income was adversely affected by the loss of fees. In short, he provides no argument to differentiate himself from any employee of a business, and asserts no basis for allowing such an employee to recover damages for lost profits of a business in which the employee has no ownership or legal interest and in which the employee alleges no impact on his own compensation. Assaf has failed to argue that he has any interest in the professional fees for which he seeks damages. If he were able to prove any errors in the trial, a dubious proposition in itself, those errors would be harmless because his admissions establish that he in fact suffered no loss of professional fees”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.