Case: CARNEGIE STEEL CO. v. THE UNITED STATES
Abbreviation: Carnegie Steel Co. v. United States
Decision Date: 1915-10
Docket Number: 
Citation: 51 Ct. Cl. 486
Volume: 51
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction: United States
Parties: CARNEGIE STEEL CO. v. THE UNITED STATES.
Judges: 
Pages: 486–486

Head Matter:
CARNEGIE STEEL CO. v. THE UNITED STATES.
[49 C. Cls. R., 403, 707 ; 240 IT. S. R., 156.]
On the plaintiff's appeal.
The question in this case is one of liquidated damages growing out of a contract for the delivery of armor plate to the Government. The contract provided that “ in making final settlement based upon the completion of the delivery the party of the first part (plaintiff) shall receive credit for such delays occurring during the performance of the contract as the Chief of Ordnance may determine to have been due to unavoidable causes, such as * * * action of the United States,” and this suit is to recover the deductions made for liquidated damages.
The court below decides:
The difficulties under which plaintiff labored to make the armor plate meet the requirements of its contract were not due to “ unavoidable causes ” within the meaning of those terms in the contract, and, though unforeseen, did not render the performance impossible.
Where a contract provided for liquidated damages and that such damages were to be computed from the date of final delivery of all the material, it is not allowable to compute said damages from the dates of delivery of separate installments of the material.
Where a contract provides that liquidated damages shall be computed from the date determined for the final delivery and “ the date of completion shall be considered for the purposes of final settlement as the date of the actual completion of the delivery,” liquidated damages can only accrue from the date of the actual completion of the delivery.
The decision of the court below is affirmed.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice McKenna
delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court February 21, 1916.