Savage Arms Corporation v. United States, 13
| Decision Date | 17 November 1924 |
| Docket Number | No. 13,13 |
| Parties | SAVAGE ARMS CORPORATION v. UNITED STATES |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Mr. Jesse C. Adkins, of Washington, D. C., for appellant.
Mr. Blackburn Esterline, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for the United States.
On April 30, 1918, appellant entered into a contract with the United States by which, among other things, it agreed to make and deliver 440,000 magazines for Lewis machine guns, for which the United States agreed to pay $4.24 each. After 24,247 of the magazines had been delivered, the Chief of Ordnance requested appellant in the public interest immediately to suspend operations under the contract to the extent of 298,000 magazines. Written notice containing this request was sent to the Rochester district claims board for delivery to appellant, to whom its purport was communicated by the board. Thereupon appellant entered into verbal negotiations with an official of the board, with the result that an understanding was arrived at between them to the effect that the requested suspension should operate to the extent of 142,000 magazines, instead of 298,000, as stated in the notice. The negotiations were exclusively with the claims board. No reply was made by appellant to the Chief of Ordnance, and it does not appear that the Ordnance Office was informed of the arrangement until long afterwards. Appellant, following this arrangement, continued to deliver magazines until May, 1919, at which time there had been delivered 298,000, leaving undelivered 142,000, under the terms of the original contract. Appellant thereafter neither requested to be allowed to furnish nor attempted to furnish this remaining number.
In addition to the contract for the magazines, appellant had a large number of other contracts with the government for furnishing various sorts of munitions and supplies, and had numerous accounts relating thereto. It was therefore anxious to close this contract on its books, and especially so because there was some discussion going on among the ordnance officials in respect of the suspension request, and a possibility that the change agreed upon between the board (which was without authority) and the appellant might be challenged, and the magazines in excess of 142,000 charged against appellant as having been improvidently accepted and paid for. Appellant, accordingly, wrote to the secretary of the claims board asking him to immediately arrange with the proper officer at Washington for a revised suspension request to terminate the contract in respect of the 142,000 undelivered magazines only, and expressly promising that, upon receipt of such request, appellant would 'immediately accept it, without making claim for any portion of the 142,000 magazines so suspended.'
Appellant thereafter persistently and repeatedly urged that the officials of the Ordnance Office revise the suspension request by an order authorizing the delivery of the 298,000 magazines. Finally, on August 20, 1919, appellant again wrote, and, after referring to the fact that 142,000 magazines remained undelivered under the contract, said:
'As we have received and accepted no suspension request for this number, it will be appreciated if you will have forthcoming suspension request for our acceptance in termination...
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