For Children, Inc. v. Graphics International, Inc.

• Decision Date: 29 December 1972
• Docket Number: No. 67 Civ. 549.,67 Civ. 549.
• Citation: 352 F. Supp. 1280
• Parties: FOR CHILDREN, INC., Plaintiff, v. GRAPHICS INTERNATIONAL, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

352 F. Supp. 1280

FOR CHILDREN, INC., Plaintiff, v. GRAPHICS INTERNATIONAL, INC., Defendant.

No. 67 Civ. 549.

United States District Court, S. D. New York.

December 29, 1972.

Sandoe, Hopgood & Calimafde, New York City, for plaintiff; John M. Calimafde, Arthur M. Lieberman, New York City, Richard H. G. Cunningham, Stamford, Conn., of counsel.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges, New York City, for defendant; Michael K. Stanton, Arthur F. Abelman, New York City, of counsel.

EDWARD WEINFELD, District Judge.

Plaintiff, For Children, Inc., was formed in February 1966 to engage in the business of publishing and marketing children's books. The defendant, Graphics International, Inc., is a printer whose activities include production of pop-up items. Jurisdiction is based upon diverse citizenship;¹ the plaintiff is an Ohio corporation and the defendant a California corporation with its principal place of business in New York City; accordingly, New York law is applicable to their controversy.

Plaintiff's president, late in 1965 and prior to its formation, conceived the idea of a book for children, the principal feature of which was a three-dimensional pop-up together with story material of a single subject.² The books, intended for young children under twelve, were to be sold through magazine distribution techniques in mass retail outlets, such as supermarkets, discount houses and chain stores, involving, if successful, reprints; the first printing was to be of three titles, with additional titles planned as the venture progressed.

After a series of conferences between plaintiff's president and defendant's president, the plaintiff, on April 25, 1966, placed an order with the defendant for the production and printing of 758,333 children's pop-up books at a total cost of $57,809.56, which included art work, pop-up design and display boxes. The books were three in number, entitled: (1) "Our Man on the Moon," with a space ship pop-up; (2) "Pets," with a pet pop-up; and (3) "Wake Up in Paris," with an Eiffel Tower pop-up. The three books were to be packed in a single display carton containing three trays or rows, each row to contain thirty books of a single title. The order, which defendant accepted in writing, and constitutes the agreement between the parties, required the defendant to submit first color proofs to plaintiff for its approval. Such proofs were submitted to plaintiff on June 7, 1966, which found them excellent and gave its approval in writing to the defendant, who then proceeded with production.

The defendant had arranged that the printing be done in Japan by a Japanese firm and, under trade agreements between our government and Japan, the issuance of an irrevocable letter of credit or cash in advance was required. A letter of credit was duly issued in favor of defendant covering the cost of the order.

On July 7, 1966, defendant submitted to plaintiff approximately a dozen three-pack units (containing approximately 1,080 books) from the first production run. These were examined by plaintiff's president in the presence of a representative of defendant who had delivered them. Various defects appeared in the books themselves, as well as in the display cases. Among other defects, out of a total of 330 "Wake Up in Paris" books, 60% failed to pop up or did not pop up totally, so that they were at an angle; others were pinched and had to be hand manipulated to get them to an upright "pop-up" position. The defendant was advised of the deficiencies by letter dated July 8. The defendant did not deny the claimed defects; it responded: "We have gone over in detail with Japan all of the nine points listed in your letter, and feel certain that they will be corrected."³ Apart from the foregoing, plaintiff was also assured the finished product would conform to the approved proofs.

On or about August 4 defendant delivered to plaintiff eighty-four three-packs,⁴ part of the new run of production which had just arrived from Japan. A substantial portion of this shipment was examined in the presence of two representatives of the defendant. Of a total of 720 "Wake Up in Paris" pop-ups that were examined, 260, or 36%, were found to be imperfect or defective in that, as one witness put it, "it did not pop up" or otherwise malfunctioned.

As a result of the August 4th inspection the defendant wrote to the plaintiff stating, among other matters, that it was "reprinting the Paris pop-up book, so that the incidents of mechanical failure are less likely to occur."⁵ It added that because of its inherent nature, "it is virtually impossible to make the pop-ups 100% mechanically perfect, but will do our best." Further, defendant expressed its view that "if 85% - 90% of the pop-ups work correctly, this should be an acceptable standard due to their complexity"—a contention which plaintiff challenges. It insists under the agreement it was entitled to books that conformed to the color proofs it had approved before production commenced.

The defendant next made delivery to plaintiff early in September of a total of 550,320 books. With respect to this delivery, approximately 75,000 to 80,000 were individually examined, and of those 63% of the "Paris" books malfunctioned in that they did not pop up; some were bent and had to be hand manipulated to get a full pop-up; some were torn; others would not open because of an overflow of glue. About 51% of the "Man on the Moon" books that were examined malfunctioned. On October 3 plaintiff notified defendant that the percentage of the defective pop-ups rendered the entire shipment unmarketable, and of its rejection of the entire order. It demanded the return of $42,754.20, the amount that had been paid to that date, and other damages it claimed.

There can be no issue that a substantial portion of the shipment, principally the "Paris" books, malfunctioned in one or more respects. The defendant's position is that the nature of the pop-up and its construction did not permit 100% compliance with the first color samples approved by plaintiff; that a tolerance or leeway of imperfection up to 15% of books delivered satisfied the terms of their agreement. When plaintiff made its inspection of the September shipment and complained that a substantial number of the books, particularly those with the "Eiffel Tower" pop-ups, were defective, the defendant, on September 14, 1966, offered to correct "the pinched condition whenever it occurs in these pop-up books," but added, "we cannot guarantee the longevity of this repair above 90%."⁶ However, the defendant conditioned its offer on plaintiff extending the letter of credit for the balance of the initial order, some 230,000 books then held by defendant in Japan. Plaintiff's position was that the defect was not confined to a pinched condition; that a substantial number of the books just did not pop up properly and rejected the offer,⁷ and the efforts of the parties otherwise to adjust their differences having failed, this suit followed. The defendant asserted a counterclaim seeking payment for the balance of the books not yet delivered.

The mechanical design and structuring of the pop-up and the paper engineering was the responsibility of the defendant; its expertise as a pop-up printer and designer was relied upon by plaintiff in placing the order with the defendant. During the course of their negotiations, the defendant never suggested a margin of error in performance, either 15% or any percentage of the books it produced. The contract contains no such reference. It does provide for approval of the first color proof by plaintiff and nothing is contained therein, either explicitly or implicity, that 85% performance would satisfy the standard so approved. Defendant's president testified that in the discussions that preceded placement of the order he never said he would deliver 100% perfect pop-ups; however, neither did he say he would not deliver 100% perfect pop-ups. He did testify that he believed that the pop-ups would substantially conform to the proofs. Moreover, it is significant that with respect to the irrevocable letter of credit which was in the nature of advance payment, the defendant, on June 8, one day after plaintiff had approved the color samples, assured plaintiff that payment did not constitute acceptance and that plaintiff would have full recourse against defendant "if the product does not meet the standards which have been agreed upon in advance."⁸ The only standard agreed upon was the first color proofs. The suggested margin of nonperformance was first advanced after plaintiff found defects in the books contained in the eighty-four three-packs of the new production run delivered in early August 1966; thereafter, when plaintiff found malfunctioning in a substantial percentage of the September deliveries, defendant took the same position as against plaintiff's view that it was entitled to have all books conform to the approved color proofs.

I find plaintiff under its order was entitled to have books delivered in accordance with the approved proofs; that defendant failed to deliver books in accordance therewith; that a substantial portion of the books delivered were imperfect and malfunctioned and were not marketable; that since this was plaintiff's initial attempt to enter the children's book market through retail distribution techniques, none of the books, including those which were free from defects, were marketable; in sum, that defendant breached its agreement. Moreover, even accepting defendant's standard of performance with respect to the "Paris" and "Moon" pop-ups, it failed to come within its own alleged permissible margin of variance.

There remains the question of damages to be awarded to the plaintiff for defendant's breach of the contract. Each side advances conflicting theories as to the proper measure of damages. Plaintiff conceptualizes a theory which, if accepted, would require the defendant to pay not only the damages which normally...