Stroh Brewery Co. v. Grand Trunk Western Railroad Co.
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
513 F. Supp. 827 (1981)
The Stroh Brewery Company (plaintiff) ordered malt for brewing, to be delivered by Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company (defendant) in hopper car CNW 172379; around the same time, another company ordered barley in a similarly numbered car, CNW 173379, and Grand Trunk's employees mistakenly sent the barley car to Stroh instead of the malt car. Because the malt and barley looked similar, Stroh's employees didn't notice the mix-up, unloaded and mixed the barley with Stroh's malt, contaminating it and burning out the grinding engines. Stroh sued Grand Trunk for breach of contract, seeking as consequential damages the cost of the contaminated malt and the cost of removing it from Stroh's facility.
Whether damages may be awarded only for injuries that the defendant had reason to foresee as a probable result of its breach at the time the contract was made.