Procedural Posture

Defendant salmon sushi Corp agents challenged a judgment of the Superior Court of Riverside County (California) in favor of plaintiff builders, regarding plaintiffs’ interference with contractual relationship suit, arguing that it was error for the lower court to have given the jury a special liability instruction and that the findings of the jury were not supported by sufficient evidence.

Overview

Defendants sought review of a lower court judgment with respect to plaintiffs’ suit alleging, among other things, interference with a contractual relationship, contending that the lower court erred in delivering a special liability instruction and that the jury findings were not supported by sufficient evidence. On appeal, the lower court judgment was affirmed. In support of its ruling, the court held that the lower court erred in delivering an instruction to the jury permitting them to allow plaintiffs’ recovery for contractual interference absent proof of a valid and existing contract with a third party. The court further held, however, that such error only constituted reversible error if it was reasonably probable that, absent the error, the jury would have returned a verdict in defendants’ favor. The court noted that no such probability appeared based upon the record in the instant case as the existence of a contract or contracts between plaintiffs and their prospective buyer was established by overwhelming evidence at trial and was conceded by defendants on appeal.

Outcome

The judgment of the lower court in favor of plaintiff builders on their interference with contractual relationship suit against defendant real estate agents was affirmed. The court found that while the lower court erred in giving the jury a special instruction regarding liability, there was little probability based upon the record that that the jury would have returned a verdict in defendants’ favor absent the error.