Suncor Stainless, Inc. v. Structural Hardware & Supply, Inc.

MEMORANDUM *

Suncor Stainless, Inc. (Suncor) appeals from the district court’s judgment awarding it only nominal damages against Structural Hardware and Supply, Inc. (Structural), after holding Structural liable for intentional interference with contractual relations. The only issue on appeal is the amount of damages. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we vacate and remand for recalculation of damages.

The magistrate judge held that Suncor could not prove damages by showing that its employees were forced to take time away from their normal responsibilities in order to respond to Structural’s tortious conduct. We review “the issue of whether the district court applied the correct legal standard in computing damages ... de novo.” Ambassador Hotel Co. v. Wei-Chuan Inv., 189 F.3d 1017 , 1024 (9th Cir. 1999).

We have previously held that lost employee time is a proper measure of compensatory damages. See Convoy Co. v. Sperry Rand Corp., 672 F.2d 781 (9th Cir.1982). In Convoy Co., we specifically rejected an argument virtually identical to the one Structrual currently advances, when we held “[t]he issue is not whether Convoy would have paid the supervisors’…