Court Opinion

ID: 9448082
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 23:22:55.871543+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:17.263192
License: Public Domain

KALODNER, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The fact-finding below that the plaintiff intended to rescind the contract is clearly erroneous and should be reversed.
The record below discloses that the defendant never even advanced the contention that plaintiff had “rescinded” the contract.
In the parties’ “Agreed Statement as to Record on Appeal” it was said:
“ * * * Thereafter, on March 4, 1959, with Foregger in default in its undertaking to make successive monthly payments of $5,000, Invengineering by letter, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit B, gave a 30-day notice of termination of the contract pursuant to the provisions thereof.” (Emphasis supplied.)
It is impossible to reconcile the District Court’s fact-finding of rescission with the following specific fact-findings in its Opinion, reported at D.C.N.J.1960, 184 F.Supp. 366, that plaintiff had “terminated” the contract.
“I further find that the notice of termination of the contract given by the plaintiff to the defendant was strictly in accordance with the provisions of the instrument and justified by a clear breach, on the part of Foregger, of its obligations thereunder * * * I conclude, therefore, that Foregger’s purported rescission of the already duly terminated agreement was a futile and ineffective act by one party whose previous default had already justified the prior termination of the contract by the other party * * * The defendant defaulted in this undertaking, thereby entitling the plaintiff to terminate the contract between the parties. Plaintiff’s termination of the contractual relationship was therefore justified.” (Emphasis supplied.) At page 373.
At the very least the District Court’s ultimate factual determination that plaintiff “rescinded” the contract, is inconsistent with its specific fact-findings above set forth that plaintiff had “terminated” the contract, and we are thus presented with an inconsistent verdict which requires reversal of the judgment below and the awarding of a new trial.