United States v. Milliken Imprinting Co.

Citations

• 202 U.S. 168
• 26 S. Ct. 572
• 50 L. Ed. 980
• 1906 U.S. LEXIS 1527
• 41 Ct. Cl. 509

Syllabus

<p>A corporation having a contract with the Government to imprint revenue stamps received notice as to renewal which, among other things, stated that no application for such contracts -would be considered from persons not already having one; the corporation applied for and obtained a renewal and the contract when delivered contained do provision for •not giving contracts to persons not then engaged in imprinting stamps; during its life a similar contract was given to such a- person and the corporation sued in the Court of Claims for reformation of its contract on ground that the omission was mutual mistake and also for loss of profits ■ on business diverted to such person. The Court of Claims took jurisdiction and awarded damages. Held, by this court in reversing the judgment on the merits:</p> <p>While reformation of. the contract is not an incident to an action at law; and can only be granted in equity; under § 1 of the act of.March 3,' 1887, 24 Stat. 505, thé Court of Claims has jurisdiction to reform a contract, and of the money claim under the contract as it should have been drawn.</p> <p>■ On the evidence in this case there was no mutual mistake justifying the reformation of the contract.</p>