## Facts

- Scott Burdette purchased a new 1971 Ford Country Squire station wagon from Dick Herriman Ford, Inc.
- Burdette financed the purchase through United Virginia Bank of Fairfax, which consolidated the new loan with an existing loan, totaling $4,525.92.
- The Bank issued a $2,943.56 check payable jointly to Burdette and the Dealer.
- The check stated that, by endorsing and taking the proceeds, the payees certified the Bank’s first lien had been recorded on the vehicle’s title application.
- The Dealer endorsed the check, obtained the proceeds, but failed to record the Bank’s lien and submitted incorrect ownership information on the title application.
- Burdette defaulted, and the vehicle was removed from Virginia, preventing repossession and leaving the Bank without the security interest it expected.

## Issues

1. In a breach-of-contract action for failure to record a vehicle lien, must the lender prove the vehicle’s value at the time the right to repossess accrued (upon default) to recover damages?
2. Or are damages measured as of the date the dealer breached by failing to record the lien as promised?

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Virginia reversed the judgment for the Dealer and remanded.
- The Bank was not required to prove the vehicle’s value at the time of default or the time repossession would have occurred.
- Damages were to be determined as of the date of the Dealer’s breach (failure to record the lien after certifying it had done so).
- The Bank’s evidence (including purchase price and indebtedness, less payments) provided a sufficient basis to compute damages; striking the Bank’s evidence was error.

## Legal Principles

- Contract damages are measured as of the date of breach, not a later date when additional events occur.
- A party may not profit from its own breach; a breaching party cannot use uncertainty in damage proof that its own conduct created as a shield from liability.
- When precise computation is made difficult by the defendant’s breach, the plaintiff need not prove damages with mathematical certainty; a reasonable basis for approximation is sufficient.

## Conclusion

Because the Dealer’s breach deprived the Bank of a perfected lien from the outset and made later valuation difficult, the Bank could recover damages measured at the time of breach based on reasonable evidence of the collateral’s value and the secured debt, and the case was remanded for a damages determination under that rule.


United Va. Bank of Fairfax v. Dick Herriman Ford, Inc., 215 Va. 373 (1974)