Pinches v. Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church
Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut
10 A. 264 (1887)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Plaintiff contracted to build a church for the defendant. Upon completion, although the plaintiff acted in good faith in his construction of the church, the building did not comply with all of the requirements of the contract. The ceiling was lower than the contract called for, the windows were smaller, and the seats were narrower, among other variations. Nonetheless, the defendant took possession and objected to the variations as soon as they were noticed. After the church was built, it would have been nearly impossible for the plaintiff to modify the building to comply with the exact requirements of the contract without partially tearing it down and rebuilding it. As a result of the variations, the defendant did not pay the plaintiff for his labor and materials and the plaintiff brought suit. The trial court found that the defendant should pay the plaintiff the contract price minus the diminution in the value of the building due to the deviations from the contract. The defendant appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Beardsley, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 798,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 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.