Pyne v. Edwards
Pyne v. Edwards
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The appellant, W. T. Pyne, seeks to enforce his lien as a material-man for the sum of $762.90, which he alleges is due him as a balance for mill machinery furnished by him to the appellee, W. E.
It is now insisted for the appellant that this memorandum, in the absence of an allegation of fraud or mistake, must be held to evidence the entire contract; and that he is entitled to recover the amount of it. It is true that, where parties have reduced their engagement to writing in such terms that there is no uncertainty as to its object or extent, it must be conclusively presumed to state the entire contract.
But upon the other hand, where it appears upon the face of the writing or by its purport it appears that only a part of the contract lias been stated, or it is so incompletely expressed as to be unintelligible, then extrinsic parol evidence may be resorted to for the purpose of ascertaining the entire contract. In this instance there was but a mere memorandum of items and their cost. It does not purport to be the entire contract, as the parol testimony conclusively so shows. It is clearly shown by the testimony and is virtually admitted by the appellant that it was a part of the contract that the machinery was to be of such quality and so erected by him that the result should be a first class flouring mill, which would grind from six to eight bushels of wheat per hour, at the same time regrinding
This is also true as to the claim of the- appellant to pay for certain work done by him in the erection of the machinery, which he claims the appellant was to do, but did not do it. The machinery was in the mill house of the appellee and'upon his land. The fact that he under such circumstances made some use of the mill did not constitute an acceptance of the job and a waiver of the right to claim damages for a noncompliance with the contract by the appellant. Fie was' not required to abandon his property. It clearly appears that the appellee from the outset objected to the work, and claimed that the appellant had not complied with the contract. Upon this ground he refused when the work was finished to execute his notes for the balance owing to the appellant, as he had agreed to do by the contract.
If the machinery was not of the contract quality, or if the work was defectively done or not within the time agreed upon, yet the appellant had the right to recover upon a quantum meruit, subject, however, to be lessened by any damages sustained by the appellee for the appellant’s failure to comply with the contract.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.