Grace & Co. (Pacific Coast), a Corporation v. Pittsburgh Testing Laboratory, a Corporation

Appellant Grace & Co. (Pacific Coast), hereafter Grace, is in the exporting business. On or about the 12th day of May, 1952, it entered into a contract with the Government of New Zealand to supply said Government with a designated amount of steel billets to be manufactured according to specification set out in the contract as “ASTM-A-17/29”. Said formula is translated in standard trade publications of the American Society for Testing Materials.

Grace was not in the manufacturing business and therefore sought bids from various steel producers to furnish the specified steel billets, culminating in letters of offer and of acceptance being exchanged between Grace and Seattle Foundry, hereafter Foundry. The trial court made no findings as to the terms of the contract between Grace and Foundry, but the letters did contain reference to the specifications “ASTM-A-17/29”. Grace, being without special knowledge as to the manufacture and composition of said billets and in order to' protect itself, obtained the services of Pittsburgh Testing Laboratory, a firm having special competence in the field. Pittsburgh was to test from time to time the; product produced by Foundry in order to insure…