Post-Contractual Amendments (Consent)

Caselaw.Ninja, Riverview Group Publishing 2021 ©
Date Retrieved:	2024-05-19
CLNP Page ID:	2323
Page Categories:	[Contract Law, Leases, & Sub-Letting (LTB)], [Payment of Rent (LTB)]
Citation:	Post-Contractual Amendments (Consent), CLNP 2323, <https://rvt.link/a8>, retrieved on 2024-05-19
Editor:	Sharvey
Last Updated:	2023/12/05

Gilbert Steel Ltd. v. University Construction Ltd., 1976 CanLII 672 (ON CA)

Where one is bound by agreement to supply goods to another at a certain price, and the other subsequently agrees to pay a higher price, the supply of the goods is not sufficient consideration to support the promise to pay the higher price.

...

Having found on the evidence that the defendant had orally agreed to pay the increased prices, the legal issue confronting Mr. Justice Pennell was whether that agreement was legally binding upon the defendant or whether it failed for want of consideration. Counsel for the defendant submitted at the trial that past consideration is no consideration and that the plaintiff was already obliged before the alleged oral agreement was entered into to deliver the steel at the original prices agreed to in the written contract of October 22, 1969. Where then was the quid pro quo for the defendant's promise to pay more?

Counsel for the plaintiff sought to supply this omission from the evidence of Hersz Tenenbaum who, during the course of discussions which took place in September, 1970, with a view to a contract for the supply of steel for the second building at the University site, asked whether the plaintiff would give him "a good price" on steel for this building. Plaintiff's counsel argued that the promise of a good price on the second building was the consideration the defendant received for agreeing to pay the increased price on the first. The trial Judge rejected this submission and found the oral agreement unenforceable for want of consideration. In the course of his reasons for judgment the trial Judge adverted briefly to an alternate submission made by the plaintiff's counsel. He said:

I should, in conclusion, mention a further point which was argued with ingenuity by Mr. Morphy. His contention was that the consideration for the oral agreement was the mutual abandonment of right under the prior agreement in writing. I must say, with respect, that this argument is not without its attraction for me.*

Appeal and cross-appeal dismissed.