Opinion ID: 2311721
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tender of Delivery

Text: On the issue of tender of delivery the evidence was conflicting. The plaintiff asserts that the removal of the equipment, with the keys in the machines, to the defendant's field near the defendant's home was a tender of delivery within the meaning of Section 2-507 of the Code, [2] while the defendant characterizes the removal as a mere accommodation for the benefit of the plaintiff who had to quit town property where the equipment was kept when the plaintiff held the office of road commissioner. While no explicit finding was made on this issue by the presiding Justice, he did state in his decision that [p]artial steps toward the implementation of the contract were taken . . . . We believe that implicit in this statement is the Justice's conclusion that the removal of the equipment to the defendant's field was found by him to be such a surrender of possession by the plaintiff to the defendant as to constitute a tender of delivery. We believe that there is substantial evidence in the record to support this conclusion. The defendant admitted that his attorney would be drafting the documents necessary to implement the sale. A fortiori, when in mid-May, 1972 the plaintiff was advised that the sale was off, tender of a deed of the gravel pit was then excused as a useless gesture and failure to make tender is no bar to recovery for breach of this entire mixed contract involving goods and nongoods. The rejection of the whole contract by the defendant rendered unnecessary any requirement, or necessity, by the plaintiff to proceed further with the agreement and tender a deed of the realty to the defendant. The purpose of a tender is to put the other party in violation. When the other party has already repudiated the agreement, a tender would be a futile act and is not required by law. It is a well established rule of law that a tender is excused where such tender would be a useless and idle ceremony. See Duval v. Steele, 1970, Ky., 453 S.W.2d 14, 18; Vachon v. Tomascak, 1967, 155 Conn. 52, 230 A.2d 5; Farnsworth v. Cochran, 1965, 125 Vt. 174, 212 A.2d 818; Spann v. Joint Boards of School Directors, 1955, 381 Pa. 338, 113 A.2d 281, 285; Leigh v. Rule, 1954, 331 Mass. 664, 121 N.E.2d 854.