American Surety Co. v. United States ex rel. Melton Hardware Co.

Mississippi Supreme Court
American Surety Co. v. United States ex rel. Melton Hardware Co., 76 Miss. 289 (Miss. 1898)
Woods

American Surety Co. v. United States ex rel. Melton Hardware Co.

Opinion of the Court

Woods, C. J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The action of the trial court in sustaining the demurrer to appellant’s special plea was correct, in the light of several decisions of the United States supreme court construing section 3477, revised statutes of the United States, 1878 (2d ed.); United States v. Gillis, 96 U. S., 407; Spofford v. Kirk, 97 U. S., 484, and McKnight v. United States, 98 U. S., 179.

The plea sets up not the assignment of a warrant or voucher issued in settlement of a claim allowed, but of a claim or demand for work unperformed, with a power of attorney to Street and Herzog, the trustees or committee, to prosecute the unfinished work and to collect moneys that might thereafter become due.

But the court proceeded on the erroneous view, throughout the trial, that the suit was an action of assumpsit on an open account, and that the items embraced in the account might be established by the affidavits made for the Melton Hardware Company and filed with the account. This was not an action of assumpsit for materials sold by the hardware company to Stowell & Co. Tt was a suit upon a bond, with distinct assignment of breach of the bond, in the usual and ordinary form. The reference in the declaration to the materials furnished by the hardware company to Stowell & Co., and the filing of the itemized account as an exhibit, were intended only to show the measure of the damages recoverable for the breach of the bond sued on. Section 1801, code of 1892, has reference to suits upon open accounts only, and has no application in suits upon bonds, and plainly the present suit was upon the bond. The plaintiff below should have been required, by competent evidence, to establish two things: First, the correctness of the items embraced in the account, and, second, that these items were for materials furnished for the construction of the court*294house. Until this had been done plaintiff was not entitled to judgment.

Reversed and remanded.

Reference

Full Case Name
American Surety Company v. United States, use of Melton Hardware Company
Cited By
3 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
1. United States Government. Claims against it. Assignments. Revised Statutes United States, l 3477 (2d ed.). In a suit by the United States on a contractor’s bond for the use of one who has furnished materials used in the construction of a government building, a plea setting up an assignment by the contractor of a claim for work unperformed, with power of attorney to agents to complete the building and collect Aoneys that might thereafter become due, presents no defense, under § 3477, Revised Statutes of the United States. 3. Open Accounts. Code 1893, ¡i 1801. Affidavits. SvMs on bonds. A suit upon a bond is not within the provisions of code of 1893, § 1801, authorizing the proof of open accounts by affidavits, although the measure of damages recoverable for the breach of the bond may be the value of goods charged in the account.