The sole issue here on appeal is whether the trial court erred in denying Van’s a recovery of the damages allegedly caused by the defective plywood.
Scope of Review
The scope of review on this appeal will be controlled, to an extent, by the interpretation given the findings of the trial court. At the conclusion of the trial, the trial court stated: “The defendant has not established its offset. Such figures as were introduced were too speculative to be credible.” The trial court continued, saying: “The court did not find that there was sufficient evidence establishing the amount. . . .” Finally, the trial court, in its findings of fact stated: “6. That the defendant introduced certain evidence relating to an alleged offset for defective products, but said offset was not proved.” We are satisfied that the record indicates the trial court disallowed defendant’s offset because of a lack of sufficient evidence to establish the actual damages.
Finding as to Sufficiency
The basic contention between the parties on this appeal goes not to the fact that Van’s incurred expenses for the replacement of delaminating plywood, but rather to the amount of damages incurred.
With respect to damages, Jerome Haen, Secretary of Van’s Realty, testified that in four homes substantial if not complete replacement work had to be done. Replacement in these instances required removal of the defective pieces and recutting, refinishing and reinstal-lation of substitute material. He also testified that one drawer front alone could take a man a half-hour to replace, and that to cut all the cabinet door and drawer fronts in a house could take more than a day. Haen estimated the cost of replacing the defective materials in the four homes requiring substantial repairs “in excess *31 of $600” and the cost of replacement in the other homes at $75.00 each. Total replacement expenses were estimated by Mr. Haen at “well ovér $1,200.”
However, Mr. Haen testified that no itemization of replacement costs had been kept by Van’s even though complaints from homeowners had been received as recently as a week before trial. Moreover, while the four homes requiring substantial repair were identified by name of owner and street, Haen could only testify that there were “in the vicinity of six to eight” additional houses where replacement work was done; that in these houses a Van’s employee “would have to go over periodically and maybe replace a door and a drawer front”; and that Van’s might get a call from that same customer three weeks later saying “there is another defective drawer.” (emphasis supplied).
To warrant damages, the evidence must demonstrate that the injured party has sustained some injury and must establish sufficient data from which the trial court or jury could properly estimate the amount.
Krcmar v. Wisconsin River Power Co.,
Nevertheless, damages should be proven by statements of facts rather than by mere conclusions of the wit *32 nesses, and a claimant’s mere statement or assumption that he has been damaged to a certain extent without stating any facts on which the estimate is made is too uncertain. Krcmar v. Wisconsin River Power Co., supra at 646; 25A C. J. S., Damages, §162(1) at 72 (1966).
In the instant case no effort was made to elicit testimony from the four homeowners whose houses required substantial repairs as to the number of pieces they knew to have been replaced. Moreover, Van’s was no doubt aware that the delamination problems first encountered in the summer of 1973 would continue throughout the fall and even later. To have expected Van’s to have kept track of the expenses resulting from this repair work is not unreasonable, especially where the only expense incurred was cost of labor.
In the recent case of
Cutler Cranberry Co. v. Oakdale Electric Corp.,
The testimony as to the amount of damages, though not directly disputed by plaintiff, was nevertheless speculative and, together with the total lack of any corroboration by way of memoranda or other testimony, demonstrated an inherent improbability that the estimated amount of damages was reasonably accurate. The evidence was too uncertain to provide the trial court with sufficient basis to estimate Van’s damages.
*33 We conclude that the evidence concerning the amount of damages here was insufficient to form a basis of recovery and that the trial court’s judgment denying defendant’s setoff is affirmed.
By the Court. — Judgment affirmed.
