70 S.E. 463 | N.C. | 1911
The following is plaintiff's case: He had been a mail carrier from Grantsboro to Kershaw in this State, and his term, fixed by contract, was about to end, when he applied to the proper branch of the Government for another term of four years. The rules of the department required that advertisement should be made for bids, which should be sealed and sent to the Post Office Department and accompanied by a bond, prepared and justified, according to official directions, before an officer qualified to administer an oath, blank forms being furnished for that purpose. Contracts for carrying the mails are usually let to the lowest bidder. Plaintiff handed the blank bond to the defendant, who was a notary public, and requested him to fill it out for him, which he did, and then administered the oath to the surety, who justified, and the bidder. The plaintiff paid the notary's fee of $1 and told him that he did not want any one to know the amount of his bid, which was $800. A few days after the plaintiff's bid and bond had been filed with the department, he learned that the defendant had underbid him, at first bidding $794, and afterwards lowering his bid to $736. Plaintiff, when he received this information, attempted to change his *217 bid, but found that he was too late, as the time for receiving bids had expired. The contract was awarded to the defendant, and the plaintiff brings this action to recover damages, upon the theory that he lost the contract by the conduct of the defendant, and, therefore, in contemplation of law, has been injured. The judge who presided at the trial thought otherwise, and rendered judgment of nonsuit, from which the plaintiff appealed.
This seems to be an action of first impression. We have not been able to find any precedent for it. This circumstance, of itself, forms quite a strong objection to it, though not an insuperable one, but "if a case in law has no cousin or brother, it is a sure sign that it is spurious." It is, at least, a persuasive argument against the maintenance of an action for an alleged wrong that, in the manifold complexity and variety of human affairs, no appeal for the redress of a like grievance has found its way into the courts. Conduct, though improper and causing a loss to another, does not constitute a tort, unless a legal, as distinguished from a moral, right is violated, and the damage conforms to the legal (276) standard (1 Jaggard on Torts, p. 86), except where it is presumed, as in the case of nominal damages. Chaffin v. Mfg. Co.,
But if the plaintiff had technically a good cause of action, he could not recover substantial damages, as it was by no means certain that he would have received the contract if defendant had not intervened with his bid. The department, under the law, reserves the right to reject any bid if, in its judgment, the good of the service requires such a course to be (278) taken, and when this contingency exists, we have held that there can be no consequential damages (Walser v. Tel. Co.,
No error. *219