New England Structures, Inc. v. Loranger

354 Mass. 62, 234 N.E.2d 888 (1968)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Loranger (P), the general contractor on a school project, entered into a subcontract with New England Structures (D) to install a gypsum roof deck. D was to provide enough skilled workman to complete the job according to P’s requirements. P was also entitled to fire D with five days written notice if D failed to live up to the agreement. When P failed to provide approved drawings, D's work was delayed. P then wrote D that P was canceling the contract due to D's repeated refusal or inability to provide enough properly skilled workmen to maintain satisfactory progress. D was told to remove itself from the project immediately. D replied claiming that P had been slow in providing approved drawings for D to do the work. P claimed that all the work was not properly finished. P then engaged another subcontractor at greater expense to complete the work. P sued D for breach of contract. D, in turn, sued P for breach of contract. D claimed that it was not allowed to complete the work during the five-day termination period. The trial court ruled that P's justification for termination for not supplying enough workers was sufficient to find D in breach. The judge instructed the jury that D could not be found in breach if he supplied sufficient workers but failed to do proper work. The judge instructed the jury that P could not argue that he fired D for reasons other than those stated in the notice of termination. The jury found that P violated the provisions of the termination clause by not allowing D’s welders to work for five days after they received the termination notice. Both cases resulted in favorable verdicts for D. P appealed arguing that the instruction about the reasons for termination was improper.