White v. Harrigan
White v. Harrigan
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff, by the contract with the defendants described in the complaint, agreed to erect and complete the brick-work in and for the Edison Electric Company, and a new building for the defendant McMurran, and to furnish materials therefor; the work and materials to be in strict accordance with the drawings and specifications prepared by the architect. The entire contract price to be paid plaintiff for both buildings was the sum of $7,012.50, apportioned as follows: $2,700 for the first-named building, and $4,400 for the last; and in payment therefor plaintiff, as the contract reads, was to receive $4,049.50 of the defendant Harrigan, and the balance of the entire contract, $3,050, was to be paid by defendant McMurran by the conveyance to the plaintiff of certain unincumbered real estate, and which was to be in part-payment of the entire contract price. All were parties to the contract and subject to liability thereon according to its provisions.
1. For his first cause of action plaintiff claims a balance due him for the erection and completion of the brick-work in the first-named building. When the testimony was concluded, the court instructed the jury that upon the undisputed evidence the plaintiff was entitled to recover upon this cause of action the sum of $292. This instruction was not excepted to, and cannot now be complained of.
2. The defendants assign as error the ruling of the court permitting any evidence against the defendants under the complaint, and refusing to dismiss the action; but it is evident that, under such general objections, if any evidence was properly admissible and received in support of either cause of action against the defendants, the court ruled correctly upon both points, and this assignment cannot be sustained.
3. The fourth assignment of error is that the court erred in sub
The right of the architect so to interfere and stop the work was, as the trial court properly held, not to depend upon his mere arbitrary discretion. The contract provided that the architect should be put in possession of the building “on account of the failure on the part of the contractor to comply with the conditions” thereof, upon demand of the architect.
Plaintiff’s right to recover damages under the second count was properly made to turn upon the question whether he had in fact complied with the terms of the contract; and the evidence on this issue was properly submitted to the jury by the court. No question is made that the contract, plans, and specifications were in conformity to the building ordinance of the city; and in an action between these parties, involving the issue whether the plaintiff had, as to workman
In respect to the third cause of action, for wrongfully converting • the scaffolding and other materials of the plaintiff, the evidence tends-to show that it was taken down and carried away by the architect on-behalf of the defendant McMurran, and with his knowledge and approval; and plaintiff’s testimony in respect to the agreement of the-latter to pay for the extra work claimed under the fifth cause of action was sufficient to support a finding in his favor.
Whether the case is one in. which loss of profits might be recovered' as part of the damages suffered by the plaintiff on account of the enforced suspension of his work under the contract, is not reached by any assignment of error.
Order affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Patrick White v. Dennis Harrigan and another
- Status
- Published