Majority
p. 312(3 Misc. Rep. 144.) CAMPBELL v. JIMENES et al.[1] (City Court of New York, General Term. March 17, 1893.) Argued before EHBLICH, C. J., and FITZSIMONS, J..
Headnote
Contract of Employment—Construction—Breach.Where plaintiff agreed with defendant to serve six months as chief engineer on a steamer to which a certain captain might assign him “for service in the West Indies,” and, when he presented himself to the captain, was ordered into the Haytian navy, plaintiff was at liberty to decline such service, and recover wages for the six months as for a breach of contract.
Appeal from trial term.
Action by Bernard J. Campbell against Juan Y. Jimenes and others, copartners doing business under the name of Jimenes, Haustedt & Co.,"to recover five months’ wages under a contract “for service on steamer he [a designated captain] may assign, and for service in the West Indies.” From a judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal.
Affirmed.
Tracy, Boardman & Platt, for appellants.
William F. Randel, for respondent.
There was a clear breach of contract of employment, and the rule of damages was properly applied by the learned trial judge. The employment contemplated services to be rendered in the merchant marine, instead of which the plaintiff, after he arrived at the West Indies, was ordered into the Haytian navy,—a service he very properly declined to accept. The plaintiff seems to have been ready, able, and willing to do all he undertook to do, but was not afforded facilities for performance, and, after a struggle, succeeded in reaching his home. There was no meritorious defense, and the jury properly found for the plaintiff. The judgment entered on them verdict must be affirmed, with costs.