Borucinski v. Hampden Real Estate Trust
Borucinski v. Hampden Real Estate Trust
Opinion of the Court
This is an action on a surety bond which guaranteed the performance by the defendant the Hampden Real Estate Trust, hereinafter called the real estate trust, of a building agreement between it and the plaintiff. The ease is before us upon the exceptions of the defendant the American Surety Company, hereinafter called the defendant, which executed the bond only as a surety.
The defendant contends that by the fair construction of the building agreement no cash was to be paid nor was the mortgage to be delivered until the building was fully completed; and that by the delivery of cash and the mortgage before that time the contract was departed from and the fifteen per cent clause of the bond violated, and hence the defendant was thereby released from all obligation on the bond.
We do not adopt the defendant’s construction of the contract. While it may be a general rule that the consideration for work to be done is not due until the work is done, still this rule is not applicable where there is anything in the agreement to the contrary. And this building agreement by fair implication does contain something to the contrary. The plaintiff was to pay $6,500, of which $1,000 was to be paid in cash and $5,500 was to be lent by the real estate trust on a mortgage. The agreement was something more than a building contract. It contained a clause under which the real estate trust was to lend the plaintiff a portion of the cost of the building. The $1,000 was to be paid in cash “ satisfactory to both Borucinski and the ” real estate trust. While it may be true, as contended by the defendant, that this clause refers to the kind of property which should be regarded as cash, still, considering that usually the term cash implies prompt payment, we think that the phrase as used here has reference also to the time of the payment and that a payment at any time satisfactory to the parties, even before the completion of the work, could not be regarded as a departure from the contract.
It is also fairly to be implied from the contract that the mortgage when considered in connection with the circumstances was
The $100 appears by the written agreement to have been paid for the plan, and the judge under the ruling above named must have found that the cash subsequently paid to the amount of $900 was not in excess of eighty-five per cent of the amount due, and hence was not paid in violation of the fifteen per cent clause of the bond. This finding is supported by the evidence. There appears no error in the manner in which the court dealt with the defendant’s requests.
Exceptions overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Vincent Borucinski v. Hampden Real Estate Trust & another
- Status
- Published