First Baptist Church of Moultrie v. Barber Contracting Co. - Case Brief
First Baptist Church of Moultrie v. Barber Contracting Co., 189 Ga.App. 804, 377 S.E.2d 717 (1989).
Facts: Barber Contracting (D) submitted a bid to First Baptist Church of Moultrie (P) for the construction of a music, education, and recreation building. The bidding instructions specified that negligence on the part of the bidder in preparing the bid conferred no right to withdraw after the bid was opened.
After the bid opening, Barber discovered that a $143,120 mistake had been made due to a clerical error in totaling the material costs and Barber notified First Baptist that it was withdrawing its bid. More than one week later the church forwarded a construction contract to D and D refused to sign. P refused to accept the withdrawal and hired the next lowest bidder. P demanded that D pay it $93,000 pursuant to the bid bond and D refused. P sued D and both parties moved for summary judgment. The trial court denied both motions and D was granted interlocutory review.
Issue: Is rescission of a contract permitted where there has been a mistake of material fact by only one party?
Holding and Rule: Yes. Rescission of a contract is permitted where there has been a mistake of fact by only one party. The mistake must be an unintentional act, omission, or error arising from ignorance, surprise, imposition, or misplaced confidence. Relief will be granted even in cases of negligence if the opposing party will not be prejudiced.
The court held that under these facts, D promptly notified P of his mistake in calculations and the mistake was a clerical error and did not amount to negligence preventing equitable relief. It was also a mistake which was material to the contract and which went to the substance of the consideration. To allow P to take advantage of this mistake would not be just.
P contended that D’s acts constituted negligence sufficient to prevent relief in equity. The court held that even if that were true, P was not prejudiced by D’s rescission. The trial court improperly denied D’s motion for a summary judgment.
Disposition: Reversed and remanded.
Tags: case briefs, church, construction, Contracts, equity, First Baptist Church of Moultrie, law, lawnix, rescission, unilateral mistake
