Gross Valentino Printing Co. v. Clarke

Clarke (defendant) was a publisher of a magazine. Gross Valentino Printing Co. (Gross) (plaintiff) was a printer. In July of 1979, Gross sent Clarke a letter offering to print 15,000 copies of Clarke’s magazine for $6,695.00. Clarke accepted this offer and began working with Gross on the layout of the magazine. Due to problems arising with the layout, Gross was required to send the print job out to a third party. This increased the total cost of printing to $9,300.00. Gross sent Clarke a letter on August 15, 1979 advising Clarke of this fact. Clarke made no objection to the price increase at that time. On August 30, 1979, Gross delivered the first 5,000 magazines to Clarke. Clarke signed the purchase order reflecting the new price and paid Gross $4,650.00. Gross later delivered the remaining 10,000 magazines to Clarke. On October 28, 1979, however, Clarke informed Gross that he would not accept the price increase and refused to pay the remaining balance. Gross brought suit against Clarke in Illinois state court alleging breach of contract. Clarke raised three affirmative defenses: lack of consideration, fraudulent or innocent misrepresentation, and business compulsion. The trial court granted summary judgment for Gross on the three defenses and awarded Gross $5,116.20. Clarke appealed. The appellate court considered the trial court’s grant of summary judgment for Gross on Clarke’s first and third affirmative defenses (lack of consideration and business compulsion).