Oregonia Bridge Co. v. Floyd County
Oregonia Bridge Co. v. Floyd County
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
Reversing.
Tlie fiscal court of Floyd county, in June, 1913, entered into a contract with, appellant and defendant below, Oregonia Bridge Company, to construct a steel,
The contract was executed on the 17th day of June, and shortly thereafter defendant began the construction of the bridge at the location designated by the fiscal court and completed it within the time agreed upon, whereupon the fiscal court in a body inspected the work and agreed to and did accept it as having been completed according to contract, and by an order duly entered directed the issual of warrants in payment therefor. The order of the fiscal court as entered upon its order books accepting the bridge and directing the contract price to be paid to defendant was made on November 17,1913, and after reciting the members of the court who were present (being all of them), it says:
“It appearing that the Oregonia Bridge Company has completed the steel bridge across the creek of Beaver, near its mouth, according to the contract, and the fiscal court having in a body gone and inspected the said bridge and accepted the same as having been completed according to the specifications and according to: contract made by said bridge company and Floyd county,” &c.
This is followed by the directions for payment to be made in accordance with the contract price, which was $5,900.00, plus $340.00 for some extra work that had been agreed upon.
Some time in the year 1916 the pier at or near the left end of the bridge, going up the creek, began to careen, and it was discovered that its concrete base in which the iron tubes were set had become slightly undermined, resulting in the county removing the pier and constructing another in its stead at an expense of about $3,000.00.
The answer put in issue the allegations of the petition, except it admitted that the pier had careened, but it alleged that this was produced not because of any defective construction, or any violation of any terms of its contract, but because the county had suffered and permitted others to fill up the channel of the creek for quite a distance above the bridge, as well as under and below it, with saw logs to such an extent that it diverted the channel from its natural course over and around the pier, causing the water to flow with such force as to undermine the foundation of the pier, and but for which it would have remained firm and as contemplated by the terms of the contract, which defendant had fully performed. It was further averred in the answer that the county, through its fiscal court, accepted the work as having been completed according to contract, after its designated agent had supervised and observed its construction while the work was being done, and after having inspected, the bridge before accepting it. Appropriate pleadings made up the issues, and upon trial before a jury a verdict was returned in favor of the county against the defendant for the sum of $1,200.00, upon which judgment was rendered, and defendant’s motion for a new trial having been overruled, it posecutes this appeal.
A number of errors are relied upon, but under the view which we have taken of the record we do not deem it necessary to consider but one of them, which is the order of the court overruling defendant’s motion for a peremptory instruction. The only defect complained of in the pleadings, evidence, or by counsel, is that the concrete base of the pier in question was not placed upon a sufficient foundation. There is not only no complaint concerning the quality of the work which was done, both superstructural and substructural, but it is admitted by every one that all of it which was actually done was of the very best quality.
At the time the site for the bridge was selected and the work was about to be commenced a logging firm operated a boom just below the selected site, and it had
On September 21st, 1915, before this suit was filed on April 8th, 1916, the county brought suit against the owners of the logging boom to recover damages to the pier in question, which it charged were due to the negligent and unlawful acts of the defendant in that case, by collecting the logs in the stream “and thereby diverting the water from its regular channel and running the same with great and unusual force against the bank of the creek on the left hand side thereof, and between the concrete pier of the bridge and channeling out of the bed of the stream close to said pier, and thus endangering the security of the pier and of the bridge. ’ ’ It was further alleged that defendants therein had already caused a channel “of more than ten feet to be dug out near said pier, which it will be necessary for the plaintiff, at great expenditure of time and money, to repair,” &c. It was' then charged that if that process continues “the bridge will be undermined and caused to fall and destroy the' pier and the bridge built upon the same.”
The agent for the defendant, Mr. Reece, wlm had charge of the construction of the work, says that he excavated below the surface of the bottom of the creek to the depth of ten feet, where he struck a slaty, blue sandstone substance, so hard that he could not stick his pick into it. Some members of the fiscal court, including the county judge, were present at the time, and they substantiate the testimony of the defendant’s agent on this subject. The county engineer, who was a member of the court, testifying upon this point, said: “I was there about the time he got his excavation made, and Mr. Reece (defendant’s agent) represented that the foundation was solid, and so I thought the same, and whoever it was with us thought it was very solid. Q. Tell the jury what it looked like, ’Squire. A. Well, it looked like—blue nature hardly the color was, between slate and clay, is my recollection, mixed some with rock. Seemed to be of a dry, hard nature. ’ ’ Upon being asked on whose judgment he acted in accepting the bridge he said: “I relied upon some of my own judgment. As to the foundation there I thought it was sufficient, and Mr. Reece, I think he expressed, he thought it was sufficient, and I thought at the time it was sufficient and yet think so if it had not been for that pressure of logs.”
The county judge, testifying upon this point, was asked and answered the following questions: “Q. De
It will therefore be seen that those representing the county had the opportunity to and did judge for themselves the character of support upon which the concrete foundation was built, and that they concluded it was sufficient and consented to and acquiesced in the construction of the concrete upon that foundation. As we have seen, in the absence of specifications concerning this part of the work it was competent for the parties to agree about it. This undoubtedly was done, and there is no complaint but that the bridge was constructed accordingly. The bridge company did not agree, under its obligation, to construct the bridge “in a workmanlike manner” to guarantee against negligent or wrongful acts of third parties, and since the undisputed proof shows that the damage to the pier was produced solely from such causes and that the bridge was constructed in the manner agreed upon in the contract as modified by the s ment concerning the foundation of the r for us to see wherein the damages can be charged to any dereliction of the defendant. All the testimony is to the effect that the foundation of the pier was abundantly sufficient had it not been for the illegal and wrongful acts of the logging company in diverting the stream. All the work which• defendant did was done “in/good, workmanlike manner,” and in a manner to which me county consented, and no principle of law or justice known to us would require the company to respond in damages produced by no fault on its part, but exclusively because of wrongful acts of third parties which the copnty could and it was hbsequent agree-it is difficult ner,
Wherefore, the judgment is reversed for proceedings in accordance with this opinion.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.