Keller-Pike Co. v. Wetter
Keller-Pike Co. v. Wetter
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
George F. Payne & Company, the defendants, were the general contractors for the construction of the new Stock Exchange Building in the City of Philadelphia. The part of the work to be done under the contract, known as the Mechanical Plant, was sublet to Keller-Pike Company, the plaintiff, by a contract dated May 24, 1912. Payne & Company agreed to finish the building on or before December 1,1912, and Keller-Pike Company agreed to do its part of the work by November 13, 1912. Subsequently, the Keller-Pike Company submitted a written proposal with specifications to the architect in which it agreed to install the permanent electrical equipment in the building. That work was not included in the agreement to install the mechanical plant. By an oral agreement, the price of the work was reduced and the architect instructed the plaintiff to do it, of which notice was given the defendants by the plaintiff. The work was done by the plaintiff, bills were rendered the defendants, and they received the contract price from the owner of the building. The Keller-Pike Company finished its part of the work about March 1, 1913, and the building was subsequently completed. Payments were made to the plaintiff during the progress of the work, and this action was brought to recover the balance due on the contract price, and for certain items of extra work done under each contract. The statement avers that the plaintiff completed its work on or about March 1, 1913, and that the delay in the completion of the work beyond the time specified in the contract was not due to the fault of the plaintiff, but wholly to the delay of the architect and of the defendants and their other subcontractors. Wetter filed an affidavit of defense in which, inter alia, he set up a counterclaim for failure to furnish certain items included in the contract and for damages by reason of the delay in the completion of the building which, as alleged, was “due solely and alone to the fault of the
The court entered judgment for part of the claim for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense, and the parties went to trial as to the balance of the claim. There was a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff for the residue of the claim except four of the five items for extra work which the court directed the jury to disallow. The other item for extra work was $595.31 for installing the temporary electric lighting which, it was conceded, was not part of the original contract between the plaintiff and defendants.
The defendants have filed several assignments of error, but the controlling questions raised may be disposed of without discussing the assignments separately. It is contended that the charge of the court restricted the plaintiff company’s liability for delay in completing the building to its own delay, and excluded from the jury’s consideration the delay of the plaintiff’s subcontractors. Two excerpts from the charge in which the court speaks of the delay of Keller-Pike Company without referring to its subcontractors are the grounds on which defend
The appellants’ counsel manifestly understood that the case was tried on the theory that the plaintiff company was responsible for its subcontractors, and that such was the effect of the charge. In his ninth and tenth points, he refers to the “plaintiff’s failure to perform,” and the “plaintiff’s failure and neglect to complete” the work. In none of his eighteen points does he refer to the liability of the plaintiff’s subcontractors or ask the court to say to the jury that the plaintiff is responsible for its subcontractors. On the contrary, at the conclusion of its charge, the court inquired if counsel desired any further instructions, and appellants’ counsel replied that he only desired to call the court’s attention to the item for temporary electric lighting. It was the duty of counsel then to suggest what apparently was assumed throughout the trial that the plaintiff was responsible for its subcontractors, and the court would unquestionably have so instructed the jury. A party may not sit silent and take his chances of a verdict, and then if it is adverse complain of a matter which if an error would have been immediately rectified and made harmless: Commonwealth v. Razmus, 210 Pa. 609, 611. The two excerpts from the charge, assigned as error, standing alone, might not clearly convey to the jury that the plaintiff was responsible for the default of its subcontractors, but the charge as a whole is not open to this objection and was not misleading, but was a fair presentation of the case and, therefore, these assignments must be dismissed.
We do not think the language quoted in the fourth assignment, when read in the light of other parts of the charge, imposes too heavy a burden of proof on the defendants in establishing their counterclaim. The mean
We do not agree with the defendants’ contention that the court erred in submitting for the consideration of the jury the so-called extra item of $595.31 for temporary electric wiring of the building without showing a written order for the work and without a prior offer and refusal to submit it to the decision of the architect under the arbitration clause of the contract between the plaintiff and defendants for the installation of the mechanical plant. That plant was installed by the plaintiff under the contract of May '24, 1912, and contained clauses requiring written orders for extra work and for the submission of disputes to the decision of the architect, but it did not include the electric wiring of the building. The permanent electric wiring of the building was done by the plaintiff under another and later contract, which was a proposal in writing by the plaintiff and an order or acceptance by the architect. This contract contained
We think the defendants were entitled to the cost of installing the hose reels and racks in the building, and
The judgment, as modified, is affirmed.
Reference
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- Keller-Pike Company v. Wetter
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- Contracts — Damages—Building contract — Contractor and subcontractor — Arbitration clause — Counterclaim—Effect of architect’s decision — Charge to jury — Harmless error — Appeals—Practice, Supreme Court. 1. A party may not sit silent and take Ms chances of a verdict and then if it is adverse complain of the matter which, if an error, wonld have been immediately rectified and made harmless. 2. On appeal from a judgment on a verdict for plaintiff in an action by a subcontractor against a contractor to recover a balance due on a building contract, where there was 'a counterclaim for delay, the appellant cannot be heard to complain that particular portions of the charge of the court did not clearly convey to the jury that the plaintiff was responsible for the delays of its subcontractors where the case was tried throughout upon the theory of such liability where the charge as a whole is not open to the objection and was not misleading but was a fair presentation of the case; and the court’s attention was not called to the alleged error at the trial. 3. In such a case the plaintiff may recover for the installation of temporary lighting facilities alleged to have been installed by the plaintiff on the verbal order of the defendants and their superintendent, without showing a written order and without a prior offer and refusal to submit it to the decision of the architect, although the original contract between the parties for the erection of a mechanical plant provided that all questions in dispute should be submitted for decision to the architect and that all orders for extra work should be in writing, where it appears that gueh original contract did not include electrical equipment which was the subject-matter of a subsequent contract which contained no arbitration clause nor any provision requiring written orders for extra work and that the work for which recovery was sought was done after the second contract was entered into. 4. In such a case the defendant is entitled to set off the cost of installing certain hose reels and racks, where it appears that the question whether such articles were included in the original contract was referred to the architect who decided that they were properly within the contract, and that subsequently the plaintiff was notified of the decision and recognized the authority of the architect to decide the dispute as well as the validity of his award; and where in such case the verdict of the jury improperly includes such an amount, the judgment entered thereon may be reduced by the Supreme Court.