Monarch Marking System Co. v. Reed’s Photo Mart, Inc.

Facts

Defendant’s representative prepared a purchase order for labels from Plaintiff. The purchase order listed the desired quantity of four different types of labels as “2M” and the quantity of a fifth type of label as “4MM.” Plaintiff printed and shipped 4 million of the fifth type of label to Defendant. Defendant refused the shipment, arguing that it had meant to purchase 4,000 labels. Plaintiff sued Defendant for the price of the 4 million labels. The jury found that the term “MM” meant 1 million by custom and usage in the trade and refused to find that Plaintiff knew that the order for “4MM” labels was a mistake. Based on the jury verdict, the trial court awarded Plaintiff the cost of the 4 million labels. Defendant appealed, and the court of civil appeals reversed, finding that the trial judge erred in failing to submit the issue to the jury of whether Plaintiff should have known that Defendant had made a mistake in the purchase order. Plaintiff appealed.