C. A. Andrews Coal Co., Limited v. Board of Directors of Public Schools, Parish of Orleans

• Decision Date: 22 May 1922
• Docket Number: 23414
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Parties: C. A. ANDREWS COAL CO., Limited, v. BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PARISH OF ORLEANS

92 So. 303

151 La. 695

C. A. ANDREWS COAL CO., Limited, v. BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PARISH OF ORLEANS

No. 23414

Supreme Court of Louisiana

May 22, 1922

Rehearing Denied by Division B, June 8, 1922

Appeal from Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans; Porter Parker Judge.

Action by the C. A. Andrews Coal Company, Limited, against the Board of Directors of the Public Schools, Parish of Orleans. From a judgment rejecting its demand, plaintiff appeals.

Judgment set aside and judgment rendered for plaintiff.

Spencer Gidiere, Phelps & Dunbar, of New Orleans, for appellant.

Ivy G. Kittredge, City Atty., and Michel Provosty, Asst. City Atty., both of New Orleans, for appellee.

THOMPSON, J. O'NIELL, LAND, BAKER, Justices.

OPINION

THOMPSON, J.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment rejecting its demand, after a trial on the merits. The suit is for $ 2,299.50, balance claimed to be due on coal sold and delivered to the defendant for use in the public schools of the parish of Orleans for the scholastic term ending in June, 1917. The facts are undisputed. The validity of the contract is not controverted. It was a commutative contract, and one the parties had a right to make. The sole question presented is as to the extent of the respective obligations of the parties under the contract. In May, 1916, the defendant board published and distributed among the coal dealers specifications for the purchase of coal for use in the public schools for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917, and invited sealed bids from the coal dealers. The estimated amount of coal to be purchased, it was stated, would be based on the estimated annual consumption; the right being reserved to the board "to order a greater or less quantity, subject to the actual requirements of the service." Separate bids were invited on anthracite and on bituminous coal, the approximate amount of the former being 500 tons and of the latter 1,000 tons. The plaintiff company offered the following bid:

"We propose to deliver best Brilliant Egg Lump coal to the city schools for the period of one year from date (June 1, 1916) for the sum of three dollars and seventy five cents per ton of 2,000 pounds, as per specifications on file."

This bid was accepted, and on June 20, 1916, a written contract was entered into between the plaintiff and the defendant. The relevant provisions of the contract are as follows:

"(1) The contractor will sell and deliver all the coal required by the public schools, of approximately 1,000 tons, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917, and the board of directors of the public schools will purchase and receive the same upon terms and conditions at the price hereinafter mentioned. (2) The quantity of coal to be purchased will be based upon the estimated annual consumption, but the right will be reserved to order a greater or less quantity, subject to actual requirements of the public schools."

At the time the bids were invited and the contract was entered into the public schools were equipped with heating apparatus for the use of both anthracite and bituminous coal, and both kinds of coal had been used in the schools for a number of years. Some time after the execution of the contract the school board abandoned the use of anthracite coal, eliminated the anthracite burners or appliances, and used bituminous coal exclusively. In the early fall of 1916 the price of bituminous coal began to advance, and in December of that year had gone to $ 6 a ton. The plaintiff, anticipating the fact that by the exclusive use of bituminous coal the approximated amount of 1,000 tons would be exhausted early in the month of January, wrote the defendant board on December 29th, 1916, as follows:

"Within the next day or two we shall complete the delivery of 1,000 tons of coal to the schools. This amount of 1,000 tons we realize was fixed in the contract as an approximation and we are perfectly willing to continue making deliveries under the contract until 1,200 tons of coal have been delivered to the schools. We are not willing, however, to make deliveries of coal under our contract in excess of 1,200 tons, and we trust that your board will realize that it is neither fair nor just under the circumstances to require deliveries under our contract in excess of 1,200 tons. At the time that our contract was entered into many of the schools were equipped with anthracite burners, and it had been the custom for years past to use both anthracite and bituminous coal in the public schools. Since the making of your contract the board of school directors has changed conditions by eliminating all anthracite burners from the schools and have since been using bituminous coal exclusively.

"Upon the completion of the delivery of 1,200 tons under our contract, we shall thereafter bill the school board for all coal delivered at the rate of six dollars a ton."

To this letter the secretary of the school board...