American Trading & Production Corp. v. Shell International Marine, Ltd.

453 F.2d 939 (1972)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
A
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

American Trading & Production Corp. v. Shell International Marine, Ltd.

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
453 F.2d 939 (1972)

SC
Play video

Facts

Shell International Marine, Ltd. (Shell) (defendant) hired American Trading & Production (American Trading) (plaintiff) to transport Shell’s cargo on a tank vessel from Texas to India. The contract provided for a standard rate and toll based on an expectation that American Trading would use the Suez Canal on its way to India. However, once American Trading was already on the way to India, the Suez Canal was closed due to war in the Middle East. As a result, American Trading had to use a different route to India that was much further and ended up costing it about one-third more than the price agreed upon with Shell. American Trading brought suit to recover the additional cost, claiming that the closing of the Suez Canal made its performance as contemplated in the contract legally impossible. The trial court found in favor of Shell. American Trading appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Mulligan, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 803,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 803,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 803,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Contracts

Key Terms