DAMAGES - BREACH OF CONTRACT - RIGHT TO COMPETE IN A CONTEST

Defendant organized a contest whereby the public was invited to guess the number of beans in a jar, the fifteen persons submitting the answers most nearly correct to be entitled to become participants in a quiz contest in which the prize was an automobile to be awarded to the person who is the last to be eliminated. The participants drew for the order in which they were to be questioned, the plaintiff drawing first position. On the fourth round of questions the plaintiff missed the question put to him, and then the other contestant failed to answer correctly, whereupon the manager declared the latter contestant the winner and awarded him the prize. Plaintiff sued for one-half the value of the prize. Held, plaintiff was not entitled to recover even though a breach of contract by defendant be admitted because plaintiff had not won anything, nor was he entitled to the prize, nor was he injured, nor could any damages be proved. Collatz v. Fox Wisconsin Amusement Corp., (Wis. 1941) 300 N. W. 162.