£100,000,000 LAW CASE.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXV, Issue 2126, 29 January 1909, Page 6

£100,000,000 LAW CASE.

A law case in which £3,000,000 damages have been awarded by the Canadian Courts, and in which, the sum involved amounts to the enormous figure of £100,000,000, came before tha Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on December 2. It is brought by the Dominion Coal Company, Limited, of Sydney, Cape Breton,' against the Dominion Iron and Steel Company, Limited, 'of the same town. At one time the companies were consolidated. After they had boon iimilly separated in 1899 they cntered-iuto a remarkable contract witii one another, which is the subject of the lawsuit between thorn. Under this contract the Coal Coinpanv was to supply coal of a certain quality to the Steel Company for •linetv-nine veers at os -id a ton. In December, 1905, when the Steel Company was claiming tons of coal :? month, the Coal Company contended that, according to the contract, the time had not arrived at which it could be compelled to deliver so much. Ultimately a lawsuit was started by the Steel' Company, which was awarded £3,000,000 damages—a sum equal to the total common stock of tho Coal Company. The Canadian Appeal Court affirmed this decision, and the case has now been brought before the Privy Council, which is the supreme tribunal.