Maddux v. Western Union Telegraph Co.

Citations

• 92 Kan. 619
• 141 P. 585
• 1914 Kan. LEXIS 292

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>Dealing in “Margins” — Telegram, for Additional Margins — Delcuy in Delivery — Deal Closed Out — Price of Corn Decreased — No Damages — No Recovery. A broker was carrying 10,000 bushels of July corn for the plaintiff on margins. By the negligent failure of the defendant promptly to deliver a telegram notifying plaintiff of a demand for additional margins, the transaction was closed out. In an action against the telegraph company to recover damages, the rule that it is the duty of an injured party to make reasonable exertions to help himself, and thereby reduce his loss, is applied, and held, that the measure of plaintiff’s damages, if he sustained any, was necessarily the difference between the price at which the deal was closed out and the price' at which he could have reinstated it within a reasonable time after notice; and the fact being undisputed that the plaintiff, three days after notice that the deal was closed, neglected to avail himself of an opportunity to reinstate his deal, when he could have bought corn at a lower price than that at which it was sold out, he sustained no damages by the defendant’s negligence.</p>