South African Reduction Co. v. Peck

Citations

• 120 F. 88
• 56 C.C.A. 494
• 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 4466

Syllabus

<p>1. Damages — Breach of Contract — Necessity of Certainty of Proof.</p> <p>Plaintiff corporation, pursuant to a contract, issued to defendant all but $500 of its $1,000,000 of stock, and also gave him its obligation to pay him $65,000 from its first net profits. In consideration thereof defendant assigned to plaintiff all rights in the Transvaal, South Africa, to certain inventions patented by him in the United States relating to a plant for the reduction of ores. He also agreed to construct a plant in the Transvaal embodying such inventions within a specified time, at his own cost and expense. The contract contained no provision as to who should own such plant when constructed. It was not built, and plaintiff never owned any mine, ore, or other property or engaged in any business. Held that, conceding that plaintiff was to own the plant, it could not recover substantial damages for defendant’s breach of the contract, in the absence of evidence showing the cost or value of the plant, or that the obligation given therefor was of any value, the profits which plaintiff might have made had the plant been constructed being purely speculative.</p>