A SELLER IS BOUND BY HIS OWN MISTAKE UNLESS IT IS OBVIOUS.
Question.—We sent an inquiry for certain sizes of lumber to a mill asking for quotations. Our inquiry was delayed in the mails, and, as it did not reach the mill in time enough to quote we placed the order with the mill, but did not specify prices. The mill acknowledged our order, saying, “We have entered your order as per enclosed carbon,” and after each item they named a price. The lumber was shipped and an invoice sent us, but on two of the items a larger amount is charged than specified in the communication from the mill, saying our order had been entered. In remitting we deducted the difference between the prices mentioned in reply from the mill and the invoice, but the mill claims they made a clerical error and that we are bound to pay the invoice price. What is our position in the matter?
Reply: When a seller puts a price on his goods and the buyer accepts them at that price it is then too late for the seller to demand more except in the following case: If the buyer knew that a mistake had been made, or if the mistake was so gross and palpable that he ought to have known it to be a mistake, then it may be corrected. If a seller were to quote $1.25 when all buyers knew that $12.50 was about the market price, the buyer would not be allowed to claim the goods at the quotation without making special inquiry as to its accuracy; if the quotation was only slightly under the market, so that no suspicion attached to it, and if there was nothing else to show that a mistake had been made, and if the buyer had no actual knowledge of the fact, the seller is bound. Taking the whole class of sellers together, it would not be a safe rule to allow them to come around and collect more after a sale had been made and concluded upon the plea that they had not asked as much as they intended to ask.
A CARRIER SHOULD PAY VALUE AT DESTINATION FOR LUMBER LOST.
Question.—On what basis must a railroad company settle a claim by a consignee on lumber damaged or lost? Must the consignee supply the original invoices, or is he entitled to the selling price in his market?
Reply: If the contract does not provide otherwise, a carrier who fails to deliver goods must, as a rule, pay to the consignee the value of the goods at the time and place at which delivery should have been made. The carrier is to retain his freight charges out of this amount, of course, if freight has not been paid in advance. This is the only rule by which the whole of the loss can be placed upon the carrier, where it belongs. If he had done his duty and delivered the goods the consignee could have sold them at the prices there and then prevailing. If the carrier pays the consignee less than this amount the consignee himself must bear part of the burden of the carrier’s negligence. Of course, if the contract provides that settlement shall be upon some other basis, original cost, for example, the contract will be enforced. The only other exception to the rule is that which arises when the goods have already been sold for an amount which is not so great as the market price at the place and time at which delivery ought to have been made. If delivery had been duly made, in such a case the owner of the goods could not have taken advantage of ruling market prices; he had already bound himself to deliver the goods at a price which proves to be less than the market on the day fixed for delivery, and this selling price is all that he can claim. The object in every case, except where there has been a special contract of carriage, is to place the owner of the goods as nearly as possible in the same position he would have occupied if the carrier had done his duty and to put upon the carrier, where it belongs, the whole burden of his negligence and breach of contract.