American Oil Co. v. Byrd
American Oil Co. v. Byrd
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an appeal from adjudgment for damages for an alleged breach by the appellant of a contract alleged to have been made by it with the appellee. The appellant is a corporation engaged in the sale of gasoline, lubricating oil, and other petroleum products, and the appellee sued it for the breach of a contract which he claims and which we will assume for the sake of the argument, that he made with it to sell for it gasoline, lubricating oil, and other petroleum products at Amite City, La., for a stipulated commission on the quantity thereof sold by him. The appellee went to Amite City, and incurred certain expenses on the faith of his alleged contract, but the appellant declined to ship any products to him or otherwise to carry out the contract. Afterwards, and during the period for which the contract was to run, the appellee entered into a similar contract with a Texas oil company which contract he assigned to another, receiving therefor the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars, which the court below directed the jury to deduct from the amount of damages they might find that he had sustained because of the breach by the appellant of its
The case of Beach v. Johnson, 102 Miss. 419, 59 So. 800, Ann. Cas. 1914D, 33, relied on by the appellee, is not in conflict herewith. In that case damages were allowed for the breach of a contract for the carrying on of a blacksmith shop which had been run for about a month be
The business done under thp contract sued on prior to its breach, and that under the former contract between the parties thereto, furnished a sufficiently definite basis for estimating the amount of business that would have been done under the contract sued on had it been 'carried out.
Assuming for the sake of the argument that the appellee is entitled to recover the expense incurred by him under the contract sued on, that element is more than covered by the two thousand five hundred dollars realized by him from the sale of his contract with the Texas oil company, which contract he could not, of course, have entered into without breaking the one here in question had it remained in force.
The judgment of the court below will be reversed, and a judgment will be rendered here for the appellant.
Reversed, and judgment here.
Reference
- Status
- Published