E. S. Adkins & Co. v. Campbell

Citations

• 22 Del. 96
• 6 Penne. 96
• 64 A. 628
• 1906 Del. LEXIS 28

Syllabus

<p>Assumpsit—Book Account—Contract—Estimate for Building Materials—Mistake in Addition of Items—Price Named in— Letter—Based upon the Addition—Acceptance of Offer—Costs—Disallowance to Plaintiff—No Affidavit filed in Pursuance of Statute—Affidavit of Demand not Sufficient.</p> <p>1. Where a legal contract has been entered into, for example to furnish materials for the building of a house, slight changes in the kind or quality of materials to be furnished, proposed by the buyer and accepted by the seller, will not destroy the original contract, provided the parties recognized the original agreement as still existing, and the changes made were to be governed, as far as could be, by the terms of such agreement.</p> <p>2. The defendant submitted to the plaintiff a detailed list of the materials he wished him to name prices for, and the plaintiff returned such list together with the price of each item stated opposite the same. The plaintiff in adding the prices for said items made the total less than the correct amount, and in a letter which accompanied said list agreed to furnish the materials as per the estimates, for the amount shown by plaintiff’s addition. Held that the jury should consider both the letter and detailed estimates, and not only the aggregate sum as shown by the addition, but each item itself. And if the defendant, at the time he made the contract, knew or from information in his possession should have known, what the correct charge for the materials was, he was liable for that amount. But if the plaintiff, at the time he made the offer by letter, knew of the mistake in the addition, and with that knowledge offered and intended to furnish the materials for the sum therein mentioned, the defendant was liable for that amount only.</p> <p>3. If a plaintiff brings a suit in the Superior Court upon a cause of action cognizable before a Justice of the Peace and shall not recover more than fifty dollars besides costs, and has not filed the affidavit required