Ragus Co. v. City of Chicago
Appellate Court of Illinois
628 N.E.2d 999 (1993)
Chicago's (defendant) rodent-trap bid specified "150 cases... 24/case" and "75 cases... 12/case," and after awarding the contract to Ragus (plaintiff), the city rejected Ragus's delivery of cases containing 24 and 12 individual traps, insisting the terms meant 24 and 12 pairs per case; Ragus sued for breach after the city excluded it from future bidding, and at a motion-to-dismiss hearing the city presented uncontested affidavits from the manufacturer and city employees confirming the traps were always sold and delivered in pairs industry-wide, including by the replacement supplier after Ragus's termination.
Whether, under the Uniform Commercial Code, the usage-of-trade test should be applied to resolve ambiguous contract language.