English and English v. State of Illinois — 3 Ill. Ct. Cl. 80

R. C. ENGLISH AND E. C. ENGLISH, CO-PARTNERS DOING BUSINESS AS ENGLISH BROTHERS v. STATE OF ILLINOIS.

Case summary

Contractors sought an award of $4,500 after forfeiting that amount when they refused to comply with a bid due to a clerical mistake in their estimate. The court found the mistake was honest and allowed rescission of the contract, awarding the forfeited amount.

Claim type: Contract

AI-generated summary from the opinion text — may contain errors. The opinion text and PDF above are the official record.

Headnotes

R. C. ENGLISH AND E. C. ENGLISH, CO-PARTNERS DOING BUSINESS AS MISTAKE OF FACT-contractor making mistake in estimate. Where a

MISTAKE OF FACT-contractor making mistake in estimate. Where a contractor in making an estimate upon work to be performed by him honestly makes a mistake in such estimate, he may have his contract rescinded. Henry L. Jones, for Claimant.

R. C. ENGLISH AND E. C. ENGLISH, CO-PARTNERS DOING BUSINESS AS

ENGLISH BROTHERS

STATE OF ILLINOIS.

Opinion Filed December 22, 1916.

Henry L. Jones, for Claimant.

P. J. Lucey, Attorney General, for State.

Claimants who are contractors at Champaign, Illinois, are asking for an award in the sum of $4,500.00 on account of their having forfeited to the State said amount when they refused to comply with a bid submitted by them for the erection of an auditorium for the Southern State Normal University at Carbondale, Illinois.

It appears from the records before the Court that a clerical mistake was made by claimant in preparing their estimates in connection with the structural and ornamental iron used in the erection of the proposed building.

At the time claimants were preparing their estimates for the erection of the auditorium at Carbondale, they were also engaged in preparing estimates for the erection of a State building at Normal, Illinois.

The Gage Structural Steel Co., of Chicago, Illinois, furnished claimants proposals for the structural steel in connection with the building to be erected at Normal, Illinois, but did not furnish them proposals for the steel to be used in the building at Carbondale.

By Mistake, claimants used the proposal furnished them for the Normal building, believed it to be the proposal for the erection of the Carbondale building and this mistake caused their estimates to be from $12,000 to $14,000 less than they should have been.

When the bids were opened it was found that claimants were considerably lower than the other bidders and accordingly the contract was awarded to them. Claimants on finding their mistake above referred to, notified the State Architect and the Board of Trustees of the Southern Illinois State Normal University that they would be unable to go ahead with the work on account of the mistake in their bid and asked that their certified check for $1,500 be returned.

At the request of the State Architect a meeting was held at Carbondale, Illinois, at which claimants, the State Architect and the Board [*101] LOZZA v. STATE OF ILLINOIS.