Griffen v. Sprague Electric Co.

Citations

• 115 F. 749
• 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4967

Syllabus

<p>L Contract — Breach—Action for Damages.</p> <p>Defendant was a builder of electric elevators, and plaintiff was the inventor of a safety device for use in such elevators. The parties entered into a contract by which defendant agreed to build in its shop an apparatus for giving the device a thorough test, and, if it proved satisfactory, to equip an elevator therewith, and to recommend it to its customers, plaintiff to assist in preparing for and making the tests. Before their completion, defendant sold out its business, and abandoned the contract, because it had thus disabled itself from carrying it out, and not because the tests were unsatisfactory. Held, that plaintiff was entitled to recover as damages for breach of the contract the value of his time lost and expenditures incurred in and about the tests.</p> <p>9. Evidence — Statements Binding Corporation.</p> <p>Plaintiff had a contract with defendant corporation, and on a number of occasions called at the office of defendant’s president in regard to it. On some of these occasions the president was absent, and his son had charge of the office, and plaintiff had conversations with him in relation to the matter. After defendant had abandoned the contract, plaintiff wrote the president in regard to it, and received a visit from the son, who stated that he came at his father’s request in relation to the letter to see if a settlement could not be made. Held, that in an action for breach of the contract plaintiff was entitled to prove statements made by the son on such occasion, which were admissible to the same extent, and entitled to the same weight as against defendant, as would have been statements made in a written answer to plaintiff’s letter.</p>