# Chain Belt Co. v. United States

> United States Court of Claims · September 30, 1953 · 115 F. Supp. 701

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9702447

## Case

- **Full name:** Chain Belt Co. v. United States
- **Court:** United States Court of Claims
- **Decided:** September 30, 1953
- **Citations:** 115 F. Supp. 701; 127 Ct. Cl. 38
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Jones
- **Judges:** Jones, Littleton, Whitaker, Madden, Howell
- **Cited by:** 73 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9702447

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- 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

## Opinion text

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.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9702447. Public record. Not legal advice.