United States Seventh Circuit

In a breach of contract action, district court judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) the purported agreement that the project manager entered into with plaintiff on the city's behalf exceeds the limits of the city's power to contract, as the project manager was not the city's procurement officer and had no statutory authority to bind the city in contract, and defendant is charged with knowing the level of authority the project manager actually possessed; 2) any oral modifications to the contract prohibited both by the contract and by statute; 3) the purported contract was prohibited by law and therefore void, and cannot be rendered valid by estoppel or ratification; 4) since the purported modified contract was void for lack of authority, the city was not liable for additional payment, and thus defendant cannot create an original liability on an account stated theory; and 5) the court did not abuse its discretion in awarding costs to the city.

Appellate Information

• Argued 01/23/2009
• Decided 07/09/2009
• Published 07/09/2009

Judges

• BAUER, Circuit Judge., Before BAUER, EVANS, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Donald L. Metzger, Attorney (argued), Metzger & Associates, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Julian Henriques, Attorney (argued), Robert L. Schultz, Attorney, Office of the Corporation Counsel, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.