Benton v. J. A. Fay & Co.

Citations

• 64 Ill. 417

Syllabus

<p>Damages—measure of, for failure by the vendor to deliver articles purchased, of him. In a suit, to recover damages for the non-delivery of a planing machine, it appeared the plaintiff, resident in Iowa, came to the defendant’s warehouse in Chicago and bought the machine, which he selected with reference to its weight and finish. He paid $100 in hand, and was to pay $430 more on the delivery of the machine at his residence in Iowa. The contract was, that he was to have the identical machine he had selected, which he described in his evidence as the best he had ever seen. The defendant’s agent, in charge of the warehouse, told him it had been made for exhibition at the fair, and had taken the premium. This was about February 14,1871. The machine was to be shipped when ordered, but defendant’s agent desired to keep it in store as long as possible. The plaintiff returned borne to put up his shafting and pulleys, with the understanding that he was to send for the machine as soon as he should be ready to put it up. He ordered it by letter on the 13th or 14th of March, ánd, after a delay of fifteen or sixteen days, received a letter from Cincinnati, saying that a machine had been shipped for him to Chicago. He declined to receive any machine except the one he had bought, and, on tire 12th of April, came to Chicago and found that one in defendant’s warehouse. He demanded it, but the agent of defendant refused to let him have it, and on the 12th of April he bought another machine. On the trial the plaintiff offered to prove that he had erected a building and put in a steam engine and shafting at an expense of $5000, with a view to the use of this machine; that the defendant had notice of this when the contract was made; that it all lay idle for thirty-five days, in consequence of defendant’s breach of his contract: Reid, that such evidence was admissible; that, in arriving at the damages which the plaintiff was entitled to recover, he should be allowed to show what‘would