Webb v. McGowin

Joe Webb was an employee at a lumber mill who was about to drop a heavy pine block from an upper floor. Seeing J. Greeley McGowin in the path of the falling block, Webb diverted the block by clinging to it and falling with it, thereby saving McGowin's life but severely and permanently injuring himself. In gratitude, McGowin promised to pay Webb $15 every two weeks for the rest of Webb's life. McGowin made payments for over eight years until his death. McGowin's estate then refused to continue the payments.

The court reasoned that the strict rule against past consideration should yield in cases where the past benefit was substantial, tangible, and involved the saving of the promisor's life or person. Webb's actions prevented McGowin from suffering death or serious bodily harm, and Webb himself was gravely injured in the process. The court found that the material benefit received by McGowin was not merely a moral kindness but a concrete, measurable benefit. McGowin's subsequent promise, which he voluntarily honored for over eight years, was supported by a moral obligation that, when combined with the material benefit, constituted enforceable consideration. The court distinguished Mills v. Wyman, where the benefit (nursing a sick adult son) was more attenuated and did not involve saving the promisor's own life or person.

Webb v. McGowin became the leading authority for what is now known as the 'material benefit rule,' an exception to the general rule that past consideration is insufficient. The case influenced the Restatement (Second) of Contracts Section 86, which provides that a promise made in recognition of a benefit previously received by the promisor is binding to the extent necessary to prevent injustice. The case remains an important counterpoint to Mills v. Wyman and is used to illustrate the outer boundaries of the consideration doctrine.