Lord Co. v. Industrial Dyeing & Finishing Works
Lord Co. v. Industrial Dyeing & Finishing Works
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Defendant is engaged in the business of dyeing and finishing various kinds of goods, in the process of which considerable soft water, free from certain chemical qualities, is required. An artesian well, located on its premises, provides a more than ordinary volume of water which is not soft and contains ingredients which are injurious to the fabrics if used for dyeing purposes. Plaintiff owned and controlled a certain chemical process for the treatment of water, and entered into a contract with defendant to erect a water softening plant for the treatment of the water from defendant’s well by the former’s chemical process, guaranteeing to produce water to correspond with a certain chemical analysis, and also that changing the quality of the water from hard to soft would not require chemicals in excess of a specified amount to bring a stipulated quantity up to the standard of water furnished by the City of Philadelphia, which was soft and suitable for defendant’s
The clause in the contract which led the court below to enter judgment for defendant is as follows: “The contractor further agrees to furnish such chemicals as shall be required for a thorough and satisfactory treatment of this well water, and guarantees that the chemicals furnished will purify the water so as to make it equal to, or better than, Philadelphia city water.” The court was of opinion that the word “satisfactory” as used in this clause requires the work to be performed in a manner satisfactory to defendant, and brings the case within the principle of Singerly v. Thayer, 108 Pa. 291, and other cases, to the effect that an agreement, which provides that one party shall be satisfied with the work to be done thereunder before payment is required to be made, is binding and enforceable.
The present case is distinguishable from those above referred to. We do not construe the language of the contract now before us to signify that the work should be done to the satisfaction of defendant, but in such
The judgment is reversed, and the record remitted with leave to plaintiff to move for entry of judgment on the verdict.
Reference
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- Lord Company v. The Industrial Dyeing and Finishing Works
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- Contracts — Construction—Agreement that work shall he “satisfactory 1. A term of a contract providing that work done shall be “satisfactory” does not necessarily mean satisfactory to the other party, but may mean that it must conform to the usual standards of such work. 2. Where plaintiff erected a water softening plant for defendant under a contract providing that plaintiff would “furnish such chemicals as shall be required for a thorough and satisfactory treatment of this well water,” and which contained specifications for the erection of such plant, the word “satisfactory” so used is not to be construed to mean satisfactory to the defendant, but merely that the plant erected should conform to the usual standards of such plants, and the lower court in an action on the contract, in which the plaintiff recovered a verdict, erred in entering judgment for defendant n. o. v. Singerly v. Thayer, 108 Pa. 291, distinguished.