Opinion

Chain Belt Co. v. United States

  • 115 F. Supp. 701
  • 127 Ct. Cl. 38
Court
United States Court of Claims
Filed
Sep 30, 1953
Status
Published
Author
Jones
On the bench
Jones, Littleton, Whitaker, Madden, Howell
Cited by
73 cases

holding that a plaintiff “is entitled to recover the amount proved to have been spent as expenses incurred in a reasonable effort to avoid the harm which both parties had reason to foresee would be the probable result of defendant’s breach of the contract”

How later courts described this case

  • holding that a plaintiff “is entitled to recover the amount proved to have been spent as expenses incurred in a reasonable effort to avoid the harm which both parties had reason to foresee would be the probable result of defendant’s breach of the contract”
  • holding that the Tucker Act has consistently been interpreted to allow jurisdiction over claims which, although perhaps somewhat tortious in nature, are essentially based upon the breach of a contractual obligation
  • holding that increased scale and size or location of business did not necessarily render a business venture new
  • holding that government could not act negligently when performing its obligations under a contract

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

JONES, Chief Judge

(dissenting in part).

I agree with the opinion and conclusions of the majority, except for the item of lost profits.

In all the circumstances of this case I do not believe that lost profits during a post-war period for a building originally constructed for war purposes are sufficiently established by a showing of profits which plaintiff made during the same post-war period in buildings which it had constructed for and which for a long time it had operated in its regular business.

Instead of lost profits, which are to some degree necessarily speculative, I would allow plaintiff the reasonable rental value of the average space occupied by the defendant, as found by the trial commissioner, for the 67-day period of excess occupancy, to wit, $11,610.

I agree to the other items as set out in the opinion of the court.

WHITAKER, Judge, joins in this dissent.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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