Munchoff v. Ford
Munchoff v. Ford
Opinion of the Court
Appellant was the plaintiff below. The complaint was in one paragraph. The court sustained a demurrer thereto and appellant refusing to plead further, judgment was rendered against him. The only error assigned in this court is the overruling of the demurrer to appellant’s complaint.
It will be seen by the complaint that appellant acknowledges the receipt of wages for the entire time which he worked, for appellees at the rate of $25.00 per month. The question is, does the agreement as set up in the complaint make it binding on appellees to pay any greater compensation to appellant after January 1,1887? The complaint does not aver that appellees ever agreed to pay appellant an increase of wages after January 1, 1887, or at any time; it only avers that appellees said, that after that time they “could
The complaint does not state sufficient facts to justify any court in holding that there was a contract or agreement between appellant and appellees that appellant’s wages was to be increased after January 1, 1887. The essential elements of an agreement were entirely absent — the promise of service upon one side, and the agreement to pay upon the other. It required'both parties to make a contract; it is nowhere shown or attempted to be shown that the minds of the two contracting parties ever met upon the vital proposition in the case — the increase of wages.
This is not a case of suit upon the quantum meruit. There can be no doubt but that if appellant had entered the service of appellees without any agreement as to the wages to be paid him, he could in an action against them, have recovered the reasonable value of his services under all the circumstances; but, having entered the service of appellees, at wages fixed at $25 per month by agreement between them, which compensation the appellant nowhere avers in his complaint was ever by agreement changed in any way, he cannot now be heard to complain because his labor at some time during the time he was employed to work for appellees may have become reasonably worth more than the stipulated price. The principles necessarily stated in the decision of this case are- elementary and the citation of authorities is unneces
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.