Selland Pontiac-Gmc, Inc. v. King

384 N.W.2d 490 (1986)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Selland (P) contracted with King (D) to buy four school bus bodies. The oral agreement was reduced to writing on May 12, 1983. D was to supply the bodies and P was to supply the chassis for the buses. The bodies were to be manufactured by Superior. There was no completion date on the written agreement. D was aware that P's customers needed the buses by August for the start of school. The contract price was $47,600. There was no escape clause provided in the event D's supply source should fail. P relied on the contract and ordered four bus chassis from General Motors, and they arrived at Superior's entry point in Canada in June 1983. Superior went into receivership on July 1983. D informed P of that development in August. P claims that afterward, D assured P that the buses would be finished. D claims that he advised P of the Superior status and P elected to wait until Superior came out of bankruptcy. The trial court found that P acquiesced to the delay in production. The bodies were never manufactured as the company went out of business. P's customer canceled the order in December 1983 and P sold the chassis at a loss. The trial court gave judgment to D. P appealed.