“Had the court granted judgment for substantial damages to be assessed the assessment of Medsted’s loss would have to take into account the sums payable to the sub-IBs by Medsted; otherwise the damages would be assessed in a greater sum tha[n] Medsted’s actual loss. In circumstances where Medsted paid its sub-IBs “handsomely” the actual loss may in fact have been proved to be quite modest.”
“The rule of the common law is, that where a party sustains a loss by reason of a breach of contract, he is, so far as money can do it, to be placed in the same situation, with respect to damages, as if the contract had been performed.”
“The contract, however, is just as much the source of secondary obligations as it is of primary obligations ... Every failure to perform a primary obligation is a breach of contract. The secondary obligation on the part of the contract breaker to which it gives rise by implication of the common law is to pay monetary compensation to the other party for the loss sustained by him in consequence of the breach ...”