Sanger v. City of Chicago

Citations

• 65 Ill. 506

Syllabus

<p>1. Contbact—right to recover for services under, whm'e a foifeiture is wrongfully decla/red. Where a contract for certain work provided that for certain causes the defendant might declare the same forfeited, in which event the defendant was to be exonerated from all liability under the same, it was held, that, if the contract was terminated improperly, or for no fault oft the part of the plaintiff, he might recover for all w.ork done under the agreement, or outside of it by the direction of the defendant, and that in such case the defendant could not retain the per cent authorized to be kept back until the completion of the contract.</p> <p>2. In such a case, if the contract is capriciously rescinded, and the plaintiff prevented from performing it, without any fault on his part, his right to recover for services performed under it, will be as clear as if he had fulfilled it in every particular, and this without regard to the question whether he would have sustained a loss or made profits, had he been permitted to complete the work according to the contract.</p> <p>3. In a suit to recover compensation for labor and services performed under a special contract, which authorized the defendant to declare the same forfeited for certain causes, and for loss of profits in not being allowed to complete the work according to the contract, the plaintiffs asked the court to instruct the jury that, if the contract was wrongfully forfeited, they were entitled to receive such sums as appeared from the evidence to be due them on account of work that was done and estimated, and for work done and not estimated, etc., if done by order of the defendant, and also for any loss of profit they might have sustained hy reason of the defendant’s refusal to allow them to complete the work under the contract. The court modified the instruction by adding the words: “ but in determining whether any and what damages the plaintiffs have sustained, the jury should take into view the whole contrac