Opinion
November 10, 1943.
Appeal from Court of Claims.
The application was opposed by the State on the ground that the facts alleged did not constitute a cause of action. Claimant entered into a contract with the State on June 4, 1941, for the delivery of fuel oil to the New York City State Office Building and the Brooklyn State Hospital at the price of 3.798 cents per gallon. The contract was renewed on November 5, 1941, for the period from January 1, 1942, to June 30, 1942. Claimant performed its part of the contract. About March 25, 1942, the Office of Price Administration approved an increase in freight rates on all methods of delivery of twenty cents per forty-two-gallon barrel. On April 30, 1942, the rate was again increased by twenty-five cents. As a result claimant was obliged to pay additional costs for the delivery of oil under its contract and sustained a net loss, so it alleges, of $3,473.93. Claimant alleges that about March 24, 1942, its president communicated these facts to the Commissioner of Standards and Purchase of the State and advised him that it could not continue to supply oil under the terms of the contract. Claimant alleges that the Commissioner promised that it would be reimbursed for the amount of damages which it sustained. Claimant predicates its claim upon the promise of the Commissioner. Claimant is not entitled to recover. Any agreement to pay it any excess of the amount provided in the contract is unconstitutional. (N.Y. Const. art. III, § 19; art. IX, § 10; Gordon v. State, 233 N.Y. 1; McGovern v. City of New York, 234 N.Y. 377.) Order affirmed, without costs. All concur. [ 180 Misc. 1067.]