Aerial Lumber Company v. United States

This is an action for damages for breach of contract brought by the government against Aerial Lumber Company (formerly Oceanic Lumber & Wrecking Company, Inc.). There were two separate transactions which for convenience are treated as one, since there is no difference between them on essentials. Aerial submitted a bid, accompanied by a deposit, for the pur chase and removal of several houses, in response to an advertisement by Housing and Home Finance Agency of the Public Housing Administration. Thereafter, the contract was in regular form awarded to Aerial under the terms and conditions which had been set out in the invitation to bid upon which Aerial had submitted its offer.

The case was tried by the court without a jury, testimony was received and also documentary evidence of the invitation with attached form of contract, the bid, the deposit check and a tabulation by the office of the Comptroller General of the amount of the bid of Aerial and the actual amount obtained for each house together with a simple computation of the total of differences between these respective amounts. The trial court found that Aerial had been granted the two contracts. It was further found that…