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Gettis v. Green Mountain Economic Development Corp.10/28/2005
t example of a reason why the business failed demonstrates why their response was inadequate. Plaintiffs did not identify any lender who would have provided a consolidation loan had they not been burdened by credit card debt, nor did they identify how, if at all, their future creditworthiness affected the failure of the business. In fact, the evidence showed that they had unsuccessfully sought credit from other sources prior to obtaining the loans from defendant. Indeed, the apparent point of the government lending programs defendants implemented was to provide credit where normal commercial lenders would not. Thus, their claim that other lenders might have provided a consolidation loan if the credit card debt did not exist is mere speculation.
37. Plaintiffs' second reason for their business failure, that the business opened during a slow period, is also only a speculative claim, especially because defendants' economic expert analyzed the business based on two years of operation. Whether plaintiffs would have generated more annual revenue if they had opened at a different time is entirely speculative when looking at the record on summary judgment. Moreover, apart from plaintiff's conjecture in argument, nothing in the evidence suggests that plaintiffs, who needed income, did not seek to open as soon as possible.
38. The third reason for which plaintiffs suggest their business failed is superficially related to the expert witness's conclusion that the business failed because it did not generate enough income. Plaintiffs claim that Patricia Gettis's health deterioration prevented her from improving the delicatessen business. Patricia Gettis lost two five-day periods of work because of her hospitalization. In general, however, the evidence showed that she refused to curtail her long work hours, despite advice from her doctor to do so, to attempt to improve her medical condition. Nothing in the evidence suggested that her medical condition prevented her from doing the necessary work to meet customer demand. Further, plaintiffs offered no evidence to show what plaintiffs would have done differently to generate more income. Thus, whether Patricia Gettis's medical condition contributed to the failure of the business is wholly speculative.
39. Plaintiffs' other objection to the expert's report is that the analysis involved the personal financial status of plaintiffs, as well as the corporation, Gettis, Inc. In fact, the report showed that Gettis, Inc. made a small amount of money in each of the years of its operation after paying a salary to James Gettis of between $14,000 and $15,000 in 1997 and 1998. The problem was, however, that plaintiffs were spending more than the small amount they were making.
40. The expert's report looked at both the corporate and personal circumstances of the Gettises because Gettis, Inc. was a subchapter S corporation in which earnings passed through the corporation directly to the owners. See supra 32 n.3. Subchapter S tax status was, however, only one of many reasons to look at both the personal and corporate financial circumstances together. The case was brought by the Gettises, not Gettis, Inc., based on their economic damages. The Gettises were personally obligated to repay the loans to defendants. When they ran into financial problems, they stopped paying on those loans, inducing the declaration of default. Plaintiffs' theory centered upon the alleged forced use of their personal credit cards. We thus see no error in judging causation in relation to the combined financial position of Gettis, Inc. and plaintiffs.
41. Finally, on this issue, plaintiffs argue that this case is governed by Stacy v. Merchants Bank, 144 Vt.
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