United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

United States v. Wyckoff Pipe & Creosoting Co., Inc., 271 U.S. 263 (1926)

United States v. Wyckoff Pipe & Creosoting Co., Inc.

No. 282

Argued April 29, 1926

Decided May 24, 1926

271 U.S. 263

Syllabus

1. Where a contractor with the government completed the job under the contract, reserving the right to claim damages due to long delays by the government in performing its part, the measure of such damages was not the difference between the contract price

Page 271 U. S. 264

and the higher market value of the work at time of performance, but the loss actually sustained by the contractor as the result of the delay. P. 271 U. S. 266.

2. In computing such damages, held that the contractor could not be allowed the difference between the cost of supplies bought and held for the work under the contract and the higher market price they had acquired by the time when they were used in it, in the absence of evidence that this was the measure of the loss. P. 271 U. S. 267. 59 Ct.Cls. 980, reversed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims allowing damages for delay in performance of the claimant's contract due to the fault of the United States.