Chamberlin v. Puckett Construction Co.
Montana Supreme Court
921 P.2d 1237 (1996)
Puckett Construction Co. (defendant), the general contractor on a hotel project, sent Randall Chamberlin (plaintiff) of Custom Framing a signed subcontractor agreement for framing work. Chamberlin made and initialed changes, signed it, and returned it; a Puckett representative also initialed the changes. Before work began, Chamberlin told Puckett that Custom Framing would not start work until Puckett's owner personally initialed the changes — something the contract did not require. Puckett then told Chamberlin it would not hire Custom Framing and hired a different subcontractor instead. Chamberlin sued for breach of contract, and the district court directed a verdict for Puckett.
Whether a party repudiates a contract by insisting on terms not contained in the contract and refusing to perform until those terms are met, even where the insistence stems from a mistaken understanding of the party's contractual rights.