I use Dove v. Rose Acre Farms, 434 N.E.2d 931 (Ct. App. Ind. 1982), to illustrate the principle that substantial performance cannot satisfy a condition. In that case, a law student worked for Rose Acre Farms (a big Indiana egg producer) during the summer. He and others were promised a large bonus for doing some construction work, provided that, among other things, they were never even a moment tardy and didn’t miss any work on account of illness. He got strep throat the last two days of the 10-week project and was denied the bonus even though the project was completed on time. The court denied him relief for his failure to satisfy the condition.
Rose Acre has a nice website at: http://www.roseacre.com/default.html. If you scroll down on it a bit, you can find the comfort that Rose Acre might have offered the law student in lieu of the bonus: “This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118 verse 24.”
