Bethea v. Investors Loan Corporation
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
197 A.2d 448 (1964)
The Betheas (defendants) signed a conditional sales contract for a food freezer with Standard Food Company, which also promised to supply them discounted food indefinitely under a signed certificate. They already owned a freezer and only bought this one to get into the food-discount plan. Standard Food supplied food for just four months before going bankrupt. Investors Loan Corporation (plaintiff), which had purchased the freezer contract from Standard Food, sued the Betheas for nonpayment; the Betheas argued the food agreement's failure excused them from the freezer contract because the two deals were really one package. The trial court treated the contracts as separate, found the four-month food deal fulfilled, and ruled the Betheas in default on the freezer contract.
Whether two contracts must be treated as inseparable when the evidence clearly shows a party would not have assented to one agreement without the corresponding privileges of the other.