Bunge Corp. v. Recker
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
519 F.2d 449 (8th Cir. 1975)
Recker (defendant) contracted to deliver soybeans to Bunge Corp. (plaintiff) by the end of January, without any contractual requirement that he grow the beans himself, but severe winter weather at his farm prevented him from harvesting enough beans; Bunge extended the delivery deadline to the end of March under a contract provision allowing extensions, but Recker still failed to deliver. Bunge sued for breach, seeking the difference between the contract price and the market price at the time of the extended deadline (which had risen roughly 10% since January); the district court found Bunge's extension wasn't made in good faith but rather to capture the higher market price, and awarded damages based on the earlier January price instead, and Bunge appealed.
Whether a seller is excused from a contractual duty to deliver goods when an act of God, such as severe weather, makes it impossible for the seller to personally produce those goods, even though the contract did not require the seller to be the goods' actual producer.