Birdsong v. Ellis

Citations

• 62 Miss. 418

Syllabus

<p>1. Contbact. For certain term. Breach thereof. Attempt to repair. Case in judgment.</p> <p>B., a merchant, having employed E. as a clerk for twelve months at fifty dollars per month, discharged him at the end of the first month and offered to pay him fifty dollars for that month’s work. E. declined to accept it. The next.day B. expressed his desire that .there should he no unkind feelings between them, and requested E. to return to his employment. E. refused to do so, and failed to get other employment until about two months thereafter, when he got business at fifty dollars per month. He sued B. for the breach of his contract and recovered a judgment for one hundred and sixty-five dollars. Held, that B-’s request that E. should return must be construed as a proposition that he should resume his employment under the terms of the original contract, and in the absence of any occurrence to render association between them offensive or .degrading to E., he should have accepted B.’s proposition, and having refused to do so, he is only entitled to recover the fifty dollars for the month during which he worked for B.</p> <p>2. Same. For term. Breach thereof. Measure of damages.</p> <p>If one employed for a specified term be wrongfully discharged before the expiration thereof, he is entitled to recover of his employer actual damages ■ equal to the amount he would have received if he had been permitted to complete his contract, less what he has earned after his discharge and during the term of his .contract, or what he might have earned.in that time by due '.diligence in seeking employment. And if, through willfulness or negligence, he should remain out of business after his discharge, the damages .thus occasioned must be his loss.</p>