Tongish v. Thomas

51 Kan. 728, 840 P.2d 471 (1992)

Facts

Tongish (P) entered into a contract to grow and sell sunflower seeds to the Decatur Coop Association (D) at the rate of $13 per hundredweight for large and $8 per hundredweight for small seed. The Association therein made a contract to sell those same seeds to Bambino Bean & Seed for the same price plus a $.55 per hundredweight handling fee. A dispute resulted because of the practices of the Association in taking and paying for seeds. Because of bad weather, the seed price had doubled, and because of the dispute, P decided to not deliver any more seed to the Association. P then sold and delivered about 82,000 lbs. of seed to Thomas (D1) for $20 per hundredweight. P got a windfall of $5,153.13 more money that D had agreed to pay for the same seeds. D1 paid half the purchase price and then paid in the other half of the price and was dismissed from the suit. D intervened in the suit seeking damages for the breach of contract between P and D. D was awarded $455.52; the handling charge due on the contract. The trial court decided the damages to Coop should be the loss of expected profits. D argues that 2-713 entitles it to collect as damages the difference between the market price and the contract price. P argues that the trial court was correct and cites 1-106 as support for the contention that a party should be placed in as good a position as it would be in had the other party performed. Therefore, the only disagreement is how the damages should be calculated. The Appeals court reversed and remanded the case for damages computed as the difference between the market price and the contract price.