Tompkins v. Dudley

25 N.Y. 272 (1862)

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Tompkins v. Dudley

New York Court of Appeals
25 N.Y. 272 (1862)

Facts

Cornelius Chambers contracted to build a schoolhouse for a New York school district (plaintiff) by October 1, 1857. Guarantors (defendants) guaranteed Chambers’s performance of the contract. The schoolhouse was substantially, but not fully, completed by October 1. It remained incomplete and was neither delivered to nor accepted by the school district on October 5, when it burned down without fault of either party. The school district sued the guarantors to recover money paid to Chambers over the course of the construction and for damages for Chambers’s failure to deliver a schoolhouse as contractually required. The guarantors argued that the building’s destruction by fire was a justification for Chambers’s nonperformance of the contract, negating liability. The trial court held in the guarantors’ favor, and the judgment was affirmed on appeal. The school district appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Davies, J.)

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