Mishara Construction Co. v. Transit-Mixed Concrete Corp.
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
310 N.E.2d 363 (1974)
General contractor Mishara Construction (Mishara) (plaintiff) contracted with Transit-Mixed Concrete Corp. (Transit) (defendant) for all its concrete needs on a housing project, to be delivered on request. A labor dispute created a picket line at the site for over two years, during which Transit made no deliveries despite Mishara's repeated orders; Mishara ultimately bought concrete elsewhere and sued Transit for damages. The trial court ruled for Transit, and Mishara appealed, objecting both to evidence about picket-line delivery difficulties and to the judge's refusal to instruct the jury that Transit was required to deliver regardless of the labor dispute.
Whether the doctrine of impossibility excuses performance upon the occurrence of a contingency that is beyond the scope of risks that were contemplated or assigned among the parties.