Acme Mills & Elevator Co. v.

Johnson
Heading
Court of Appeals KY 1911
Statement of the Case

Facts
Johnson (D) had a k with Acme (P) to sell P 2000 bushels of wheat for $1.03/bushel. D never delivered
the wheat. P brought an action to recover $240 of damages and $80 for supplying sacks for wheat. D
denied P was damaged but admitted to owing $80. This is because price of wheat dropped to 97.5
cents/bushel, so P wouldve actually lost money, and that P suspended his business activity so D didnt
think P would be able to pay so they sold that wheat. A verdict of $80 was entered for P. P appealed.
Procedural History and Outcome Here

Issue or Issues [Questions or Questions Presented]
Holding

Reasoning
P must prove they didnt suspend business and were able to pay for wheat. He also claims they didnt
have the right to sell the wheat at a price more than k price.
A vendee is entitled to damages against the vendor for a failure to comply and the measure of damages
is the difference between the k price and the market price of the ppt at the place and time of
delivery. Therefore P actually benefited, because if anything the jury couldve found that P owed D more
money than the wheat was worth.
Separate opinion and Dissents

Other Items of Note

Acme Mills & Elevator Co. v. Johnson
Class notes
Date/event Price
4/26: K with P $1.03
7/15: K with 3
rd
party $1.16
7/29: Delivery Date $1.00 (approximate)

The buyer claims breach of contract because the wheat wasnt delivered to him.
What are the claims for damages? The 13 cent difference per bundle.
The court concluded we evaluate damages at price of delivery. P actually benefits that the k
was breached. There was no harm.
Hypo: Suppose Rocky agreed to get paid $100 to fight in a small place. Someone else offers
$100,000 to fight Apollo. Is there any way to stop him from breaching the smaller k? Can we
make him give all his earnings to the small club? Some say he must keep with his promise.
Many others say its efficient breach. Its OK to breach as long as smaller place is
compensated
Court says this is a fungible difference, and P only has to pay DMV, if there is one.
Had Acme entered into another k for $1.16, things could be different.
Acme and Missouri furnace are both about a k for a sale of goods and seller doesnt deliver,
and we see you focus on delivery date and focus on k price v. price at time of delivery. If its
higher at time of delivery, buyer gets compensated
A " in the cases is that in Missouri they entered into a new forward k to compensate
themselves, albeit at the new price. Missouri Furnace says that doesnt make a difference.
o Why not? The price was significantly higher, so a bit of a concern that buyer will
take a very high price because assuming seller will cover it. Also, the buyer didnt
actually need full delivery.
Note that these are older cases.