Moody Engineering Co. v. Board of Education of Union Free School District No. 1

Headnote

Contract ■ — • award of contract for public work —■ rescission of award before execution of formal' contract — action to recover prospective profits —■ complaint properly dismissed.

Moody Engineering Co., Inc., v. Board of Education, U. F. S. Dist. No. 1, Pelham, 205 App. Div. 522 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment, entered May 23, 1923, upon an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, reversing a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict and directing a dismissal of the complaint. The action was by a bidder under an advertisement inviting proposals for the erection of a school building, to recover, as damages for breach of contract, prospective profits it claims it would have made if permitted to perform an alleged contract which the defendant denied having made with it. The complaint alleged that defendant, after published notice, received bids for the construction of a high school building at Pelham, N. Y.; that plaintiff was one of the bidders;

that on August 19, 1919, the contract was duly awarded to plaintiff, which was the lowest bidder, and which was qualified to perform the contract; that thereafter defendant took action purporting to rescind its resolution awarding the contract to plaintiff; that plaintiff offered to perform; that defendant refused to execute a formal contract or to permit plaintiff to proceed with the work; that plaintiff was thereby prevented from obtaining its proper and legitimate profit.