Galt v. Seaboard Construction Co.
Galt v. Seaboard Construction Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The defendant, Seaboard Construction Company, a corporation, having entered into a contract with At
•The presently material parts of the agreement are as follows: “This will confirm your [Keystone’s] agreement to supply to us [Seaboard] up to our requirements of jetty stone approximating 31,000 tons for our contract on the Atlantic City jetties, Project No. 206, at Atlantic City, New Jersey, with which you are familiar.” The specified price for the stone was “$292% per 2,000 lbs. f.o.b. cars . . . .” The agreement also contained the following, — “In order to fulfill our contract, beginning about November 1st we must be given the right, and you agree that we may require as much as 400 tons per day, and we cannot afford any ments, you will agree that we must reserve the right delay in delivery, and if you do not meet our require-to procure stone elsewhere.”
Seaboard was obligated by its contract with Atlantic City to complete the job in 140 calendar days. The contract with Atlantic City also provided for penalties on Seaboard if it failed to complete the job on time. Under normal conditions the work should have been completed about mid-March of 1946.
Keystone, for various assigned reasons, failed to fulfill Seaboard’s requirements of stone for the job,
The relative rights and liabilities of Keystone and Seaboard, after Keystone’s failure to perform in full, not having been adjusted amicably, Keystone
The trial judge submitted to the jury all of the issues thus raised. The jury contemporaneously returned. two verdicts, one in favor of the plaintiff in
We think the learned court below was correct in denying both motions of the defendant. Its motion for judgment n.o.v. was based upon a contention that its contract with Keystone was entire and that since the plaintiff had not and could not aver complete performance, he could not recover on the contract, citing Easton v. Jones, 193 Pa. 147, 44 A. 264. In the Easton case, however, a definitely fixed amount of lumber was contracted for, while in the present instance the quantity was variable, viz., "up to [the defendant’s] requirements approximating 31,000 tons . . .” which actually proved to be just slightly over 27,300 tons for the completed job (Emphasis supplied). Obviously, the contract was not for a definite quantity
The defendant’s motion for a new trial was based on the fact that the jury made no allowance for the special damages which the defendant pleaded for the additional expenses to which it was subjected by reason of the idle equipment and labor due to the plaintiff’s failure to deliver the stone timely or in sufficient quantities. The jury was under no compulsion to accredit such items as having been persuasively proven. Nor did the defendant take any exception to the manner of the trial court’s submission of those items to the jury. Moreover, the contract contained a provision, which the defendant had inserted, that “. . . if you [Keystone] do not meet our [Seaboard’s] requirements, you will agree that we must reserve the right to procure stone elsewhere.” That provision must be taken to have been included for the defendant’s benefit in obviating any damage due to delay on the part of the plaintiff. In short, the defendant was to protect itself against delay by the plaintiff. Thus, the contract did not contemplate the possibility of special damages for which the plaintiff would be liable.
We do not agree, however, with the action of the court below in entering judgment n.o.v. for the plaintiff with respect to the verdict for the defendant for a portion of its counterclaim. The provision in the contract whereby Keystone agreed that Seaboard had reserved the right to procure stone elsewhere in case Keystone was unable to meet Seaboard’s require
Against the verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $9,713.70, which included interest to the date of verdict, the defendant is entitled to a credit for the amount of the verdict in its favor in the sum of $3,-704.97 with interest (which the jury awarded but did not compute) from April 23, 1946,
The judgment appealed from is reversed and the record remanded with direction to the court below to enter judgment for the substituted plaintiffs in the sum of $4,721.99 with interest from February 7, 1952.
John S. Galt, the proprietor of Keystone Trappe Rock Company, ¿tying prior to trial, bis death was suggested' of record and his executors were' 'substituted as plaintiffs.
The jury’s verdict as above stated is as announced by the foreman to the clerk in open court upon the taking of the verdict. However, for some reason not apparent, the certified copy of the docket entries on the appeal to this court shows “Verdict in favor of plaintiffs against Seaboard Construction Company, Counter-claimant, in the sum of $3704.97 against John Gillespie Galt and Howard Thomas Galt, Executors of Estate of John A. Galt, deceased.” The verdict as thus recorded is patently in error. But, it is upon that verdict that the judgment from which this appeal was taken was entered below.
The defendant claimed interest from April 9, 1946, but as interest on tbe plaintiff’s claim, as included in the jury’s verdict, was calculated from April 23, 1946, that date is also selected for the running of interest on the defendant’s allowable counterclaim.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.