Henry Spen & Co. v. United States

153 F. Supp. 407, 139 Ct. Cl. 613, 1957 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 114
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJuly 12, 1957
DocketNo. 241-55
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 153 F. Supp. 407 (Henry Spen & Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henry Spen & Co. v. United States, 153 F. Supp. 407, 139 Ct. Cl. 613, 1957 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 114 (cc 1957).

Opinion

Whitaker, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This suit arises from a contract under which plaintiff supplied 50 trailer-mounted hi-pressure steam cleaning units to the United States Marine Corps.

Plaintiff contends that it sustained a loss in the amount of $5,868.50, which it claims is the difference in cost of parts and accessories for the units which defendant insisted it provide under the contract, and which it in fact supplied, and what the cost would have been had plaintiff been permitted to manufacture them itself or to purchase them from independent suppliers. It also says that defendant refused to inspect and accept delivery of the first or pilot model of the units it wished to supply, and it claims the unit price of $1,269.88 therefor.

The Marine Corps had immediate need for the trailers in suit in order to supply troops in the field during the Korean War. The contract was negotiated under the authority of section 2 (c) (1) of the Armed Services Procurement Act, 41U. S. C. 151, which allows the Armed Services to procure equipment without the necessity of formal advertising and solicitation of bids when necessary in the public interest in time of national emergency. There is no claim that the contract was made contrary to law.

Plaintiff had previously supplied the Marine Corps with units of the type called for by the contract in suit. In 1950, in submitting a bid on such trailers, they had furnished a drawing and photographs of the completed unit which they intended to supply. Defendant requested and had received permission from plaintiff to use the drawing in soliciting bids for the contract in suit. Invitations to negotiate on the basis of the specifications and the drawing were sent to eighteen prospective bidders, three of whom, including plaintiff, made offers. The specifications and drawing showed the use of Homestead equipment on the trailer.

The specifications on which plaintiff and others were invited to bid called for “the steam generating unit to be oil-[615]*615fired, gasoline engine powered, Model No. JO (factory modified) , as manufactured by the Homestead Valve Manufacturing Company, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, of current manufacture, and is to be mounted on tbe trailer chassis between the water supply tanks and in the proximate location shown on the attached drawing.”

In previous contracts the units which defendant desired to procure were described in the identical terms which the instant contract used, except that previous contracts called for a steam generating unit manufactured by Homestead but added the words “or equal”; whereas the present contract eliminated the words “or equal.”

Plaintiff had previously supplied more than 600 such units to the defendant, each of which called for a steam generating unit manufactured by the Homestead Valve Manufacturing Company, and these units had been supplied.

These units were specified since they had been rigorously field tested by the Marines, and had proven suitable for their use, and the parts in the older units were 89 percent interchangeable with the units they were making in 1952.

Inasmuch as previous contracts between plaintiff and defendant had called for a Homestead steam generating plant “or equal,” and since in the instant contract the words “or equal” were eliminated, there can be no doubt that both parties knew or should have known that only the Homestead unit was to be supplied. The so-called accessories were actually component parts of the unit, and when the contract called for a Homestead “steam generating unit,” it meant the complete unit, made up of its different parts. Plaintiff undertook to acquire from Homestead the unit, less its cover, stack, hose, foot valve, and strainer. Since these were integral parts of the unit, Homestead had never quoted plaintiff a price on the unit less these parts.

The contract, in calling for the unit, called for each part thereof, and there was no justification for the attempted substitution for some of the parts. In performing previous contracts, plaintiff had supplied the unit with all its parts.

Even if this contract, like previous ones, had contained the words, “or equal,” plaintiff has not proven that its substitutes for the parts were the equal of the Homestead parts. [616]*616One of its substitutes was for the suction hose, which of necessity had to be of required strength to keep it from collapsing, thus cutting off the supply of water, without which the unit would not work. Plaintiff sought to get a suction hose from the Home Rubber Company. This company wrote plaintiff that they could not say that the hose it had ordered “would meet your requirements as a suction hose unless we were more familiar with the vacuum and the rate of flow of the pump on the steam jenny.”

There is no merit in plaintiff’s claim of damages for failure to inspect. Defendant justifiably refused to inspect the unit proffered because it knew it contained substituted parts, and defendant wanted no substitutes.

Plaintiff’s claim is without merit. Its petition is dismissed.

It is so ordered.

Laramore, Judge; Madden, Judge; Littleton, Judge; and Jones, Chief Judge, concur.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The court, having considered the evidence, the report of Commissioner Paul H. McMurray, and the briefs and argument of counsel, makes findings of fact as follows:

1. Plaintiff is a corporation having its principal office at 1995 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn 7, New York. This claim involves Contract NOm-62280 dated March 3, 1952, between the plaintiff, Henry Spen Company, Inc., and the United States acting through the Department of the Navy, and the United States Marine Corps. Under the contract the plaintiff agreed to supply the United States Marine Corps 50 trailer-mounted hi-pressure cleaning units at a price of $1,269.88 each, the total contract price being $63,494.00.

2. The steam cleaning unit is used for developing steam under pressure to be used in cleaning equipment under field conditions. The unit must have a source of water supply and the primary source is the storage tank provided on the trailer to which the unit is attached. An additional feature makes it possible to use a pump on the unit to either fill the tank or use water directly from other sources. The unit is open flame heated. When the cleaning operation is begun [617]*617the burner is ignited, water is passed through the heating coils, generated into steam, passed through a steam hose and then through a steam gun under great pressure. The application of this steam under pressure removes dirt or grease or other accumulations from the equipment that is being cleaned. These units are trailer-mounted and are normally assigned to tactical force units of the United States Marine Corps.

3. The specifications for the unit in question, as well as for units procured in 1950, were developed and written by Mr. Kenneth V. Shane, Technical Administrative Assistant to the Officer in Charge, Motor Transport Supply Section, Supply Department, Headquarters, United States Marine Corps. The specifications were written with the express intent to procure Homestead-type units.

4. Under date of January 24, 1952, the United States Marine Corps sent a letter to plaintiff containing the following statement:

The Marine Corps is interested in procuring fifty (50) steam cleaning trailers.

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Bluebook (online)
153 F. Supp. 407, 139 Ct. Cl. 613, 1957 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henry-spen-co-v-united-states-cc-1957.