A. T. Kearney, Inc. v. Inca International, Inc.

Plaintiff, management consulting firm, hired defendant, interior design company, to coordinate the design of its new offices, relying on defendant’s project manager to secure bids for the architectural woodworking involved therein. The project manager presented plaintiff with a single bid, that of a corporation that, unbeknownst to plaintiff, the project manager and two of his associates had incorporated several weeks earlier.

Relying on the project manager’s advice, plaintiff accepted the bid presented and paid to the newly formed corporation an earnest-money deposit of $175,000 to commence…