7 Wis. 355 | Wis. | 1859
By the Court,
The respondent commenced this action in the circuit court of Brown County, on the 28th day of March, 1857, to recover damages for the breach of contract.
It appears from the allegations of the complaint and the evidence given upon the trial, that the parties on the 21st day of March, 1856, entered into a written contract, bearing date upon that day, but which by its terms was to take effect on the 10th day of that month, and continue in force for five
He was employed, it seems, to superintend a general business for the manufacture of lumber. In any business the price of labor fluctuates greatly within four years, particularly is this true of the lumbering business in this country. Now suppose the respondent could only obtain for his services next year five hundred dollars and so on, would it not be unjust to say he should only recover according to the rule adopted by the jury in this case ? Or suppose the value of labor should rise so that he could obtain for his services two thousand or twenty-five hundred dollars a year, what then would be his loss for the failure of the appellant to fulfil his contract ? Still further difficulty presents itself. Suppose the respondent should die within the four years, or become incapacitated to
In ascertaining the amount of damages on his contract running four years, we do not think the court and jury were authorized in assuming that the same state of things existing at the time of trial would continue until the expiration of the contract. Had the respondent seen fit to wait before bringing his action until the period had elapsed for the complete performance of the agreement, the measure of compensation could then have been easily arrived at. We suppose he would then have been entitled to the entire amount of his salary, less what he would have reasonably earned during the time covered by the remainder of the contract in laboring elsewhere. But as the case now stands, we think he was only entitled to recover his salary on the contract down to the day of trial, deducting therefrom any wages which he might have received, or might have reasonably earned in the meantime. This rule appears to us to be the most equitable and safe of any that occurs to our minds, and the one most likely to effect substantial justice between the parties. We have not been able to find a case precisely in point, and we therefore feel at liberty to adopt such a principle for the assessment of damages upon this contract as may seem most consonant to equity and justice.
It follows from these views that the instructions given by the circuit court to the jury as to the proper measure of damages, were incorrect.
From the bill of exceptions, it also appears that the circuit court instructed the jury that if the non-performance of the contract was attributable to the wrongful act of the appellant in discharging the respondent, that circumstance would go to increase the damages the respondent had sustained. It was not pretended upon the argument that the respondent was entitled to recover in this action anything more than the actual
Perhaps it may be proper for us to further remark that we agree with the circuit court in considering the contract as entire, and that several suits upon it for the breach complained of could not be maintained.
The judgment of the circuit court is reversed and a new trial ordered.