Case brief summary
If someone breaks a contract before the work is finished, the other side can't keep working and piling up costs. They must stop and can only collect for work already done plus lost profit.
Facts
A county board hired a company to build a bridge. A new board canceled the contract early and told the company to stop, but the company built the whole bridge anyway and sued for full payment.
Procedural history
The trial court let former board members' admission of county liability count as evidence, blocked the county from showing its cancellation notices, and told the jury to award the full amount. The county appealed.
Issue
Can the bridge company collect the full contract price for building the entire bridge even though the county told it to stop before construction began, and did the former board members' answer legally bind the county?
Holding
The former board members' admission didn't bind the county since it wasn't made at a proper meeting. The new board's cancellation was valid, so the company could only recover costs up to that point plus lost profit.
Reasoning
A county board can only act officially as a group in a proper meeting, not through individual members' agreement. The new board's cancellation was valid county action, so continuing to build after that notice just added unnecessary, unrecoverable costs.
Opinions
Majority (Parker): The county's cancellation notices were valid, the company should have stopped work once notified, and it can only recover work done plus lost profit, not the full price.