Seitz v. Mark-O-Lite Sign Contractors, Inc.
Superior Court of New Jersey
510 A.2d 319 (N.J. Super. 1986)
George Seitz (plaintiff) hired Mark-O-Lite Sign Contractors (defendant) to restore a neon sign marquee requiring specialized sheet-metal work that only one Mark-O-Lite employee, Al Jorgenson, was capable of performing, though Jorgenson was never specifically named in the contract; after signing, Jorgenson's diabetes required extended hospitalization, and Mark-O-Lite told Seitz it couldn't perform, having found that subcontracting the work to another company would be too expensive to be economically feasible. Seitz hired a replacement company at $7,200 more than the Mark-O-Lite contract price and sued to recover that difference.
Whether, if an act to be performed under a contract is delegable, the illness of the promisor or a third party expected to perform the act excuses performance.