BAIRD
v.
UNITED STATES
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Baird sued the United States to recover additional compensation for engines supplied under a government contract, but the Court of Claims had previously awarded him a partial payment that he accepted without objection. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment against Baird, holding that his acceptance of the government's payment constituted satisfaction of the unliquidated claim, and that a prior judgment for part of an indivisible demand arising from a single contract bars any subsequent action for the remainder.
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Mr. Chief Justice Waite delivered the opinion of the court.
It is, no doubt, true that the. payment by a debtor of a part of his liquidated debt is not a satisfaction of the whole, unless made and accepted upon some new consideration; but it is equally true, that, where the debt is unliquidated and the-amount is uncertain, this rule does not apply. In such cases the question is, whether the payment was in fact made and accepted in satisfaction.
It is clear that, in September, 1864, when this account was first presented to the government, the amount due was uncertain, because more was then demanded than is now claimed. The counsel for the appellant say, in their argument, that this re-duction has been made in the light of. the testimony taken in the suit for indemnity. Under such circumstances, .it was the duty of the auditing officers of the government to state the account themselves before making payment. This they did, and reported to the. claimant the-amount found due, with the principles upon which the adjustment had been made. In' effect, this was an offer to pay the balance stated-in satisfaction of the claim. The'acceptance of the money afterwards, without objection, was equivalent to an-acceptance of the payment in satisfaction.
But there is another objection to the recovery which is equally good. It is well settled that, where a party brings an action for a part only of an entire indivisible demand, and recovers judgment, he cannot subsequently maintain an 'action for another part of the same demand. Warren v. Comings, 6 Cush. (Mass.) 103.
Thus, if there are several sums due under one con tract j and a suit is brought for a part only, a judgment in that suit will be a bar to another action for the recovery of the residue. Here was a contract by which the government was bound to pay-for the engines in accordance with terms agreed upon. The entire price to be paid was-not fixed. A part was contingent, and the amount made to depend upon a variety of circumstances. When the former action was commenced in the Court of Claims, the whole was due. Although different elements entered into the account, they all depended-upon and were embraced in one contract. The judgment, therefore, for the part then sued upon is a bar to. this action for the “ residue.”
Judgment affirmed.
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Amec Civil, LLC v. State, 41 So. 3d 235 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010)…ing so, it was not competent for him, after recov [*245] ering part of the damages accrued in one suit, to maintain another suit on the same contract, to recover other damages which had accrued when the first judgment was rendered.”); Baird v. U.S., 96 U.S. 430, 24 L.Ed. 703 (1877) (barring appellant’s subsequent suit, six years after first delivery of locomotive engines, for cost of the machine, advance cost and labor, and for preference of contracting with government over others, when appellant had been…
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Fire Ins. Ass'n v. Wickham, 141 U.S. 564 (U.S. 1891)…n United States v. Bostwick, 94 U. S. 53, 67: “ Payment by a debtor of a part of his debt is not a satisfaction of thé whole, except it be made and accepted upon some -new consideration: ” although it was subsequently held in Baird v. United States, 96 U. S. 430, 431, that if the debt be unliquidated and the amount uncertain, this rule does not apply. “ In such cases the question is, whether the payment was in fact made and accepted in satisfaction.” The authorities upon this point are numerous and decisive…
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Chicago v. Clark, 178 U.S. 353 (U.S. 1900)…ably due him. In United States v. Bostwick, 94 U. S. 53, 67, it was said that: “Payment by a debtor of a part of his debt is not a satisfaction of the whole except it bé made and accepted on some new consideration;” while in Baird v. United States, 96 U. S. 430, it was held that if the debt be unliquidated and the amount uncertain, this rule does not apply. “In such cases the question is whether the payment was in fact made and accepted in satisfaction.” In Fire Insurance Association v. Wickham, 141 U. S.…
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