Avent v. Proffitt
Avent v. Proffitt
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
The respondent lives in Spartanburg, and desired to erect a dwelling house for herself and family. Respondent’s husband was away on business much of the time. The appellant was employed as architect in the erection of the building. After the family had been living in the house about three years, some of the plastering fell. When the plastering fell it was observed that the plastering was not uniform in thickness. One of the plaintiff’s witnesses said, “the piece of plastering ranged from one-half inch thick to three and one-fourth inches.” This inequality was alleged to be a defect in construction, and the appellant, the owner’s architect, is sought to be made responsible for failure to properly inspect and failure to condemn the defective construction. On the trial of the case the judgment was for the plaintiff, and the defendant appealed.
*50
*51 “(3) In that his Honor erred in charging the jury as follows: ‘Where one employs an architect to draw plans for a house and to supervise the construction of tibie house, and the agreement is that no money is to be paid out except on the certificate of the architect, such architect is the agent of the. one who employs him, and he is bound under the law to exercise reasonable care and reasonable diligence to see that the work is done in a reasonable, proper, safe and secure manner, and that proper materials are used in the construction of the house’—the error being that it was a charge on the facts. There was no evidence that the defendant was charged with the duty of seeing that proper materials were used in the construction of the house. He has nothing whatever to do' with the materials furnished.
“(4) In that his Honor erred in charging the jury as follows : ‘If an architect carelessly fails to supervise the construction of a house which he is employed to supervise, ana carelessly allows improper material to go into the house, or carelessly allows improper work to be done on the house, he Is responsible in damages to the person who employs him to supervise said work’-—-the error being that the law was not applicable to the facts in this case; that there was no evidence that the architect in this case had anything to do with judging materials, or to see as to what materials should go into the house. It was, therefore, prejudicial to the defendant.
“(5) In that his Honor erred in charging the jury as follows: ‘If he fails, either in supervising the work as it is being carried on, or in supervising the materials which go into the house, and damages come to the one who employs him, he is responsible for such damages’-—the error being that there was no evidence of any contract between the plaintiff and the defendant that he should in any manner be the judge of materials going into the work. The charge was prejudicial to the right of the defendant.”
*52 These exceptions may be considered together, as they are based upon the same error. The appellant himself said: “I inspected the work nearly every day. I did not allow any thing to go in the building that I did not think was good.”
The contract between the owner and the contractor provided that the work should be done under the “direction of said architect.” The architect’s duty did not stop with mere inspection. He had the right to condemn and exercised that right as to a part of the plastering. The appellant admits that part of his compensation was paid for supervision of the work. These exceptions are overruled.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Avent v. Proffitt.
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Evidence—Demonstrative Evidence—Admissibility.—In an action against an architect for failure to properly inspect and to condemn defective construction in a house erected under his supervision, where it appeared that after a large piece of plastering fell, other portions were deemed unsafe and were taken down, it was not error to admit a part of the plastering, though the witness could not testify whether it was a part of the plastering that fell or a part that was taken down as unsafe. 2. Contracts—Architect’s Duties—Breach—Instructions.—In an action against an architect for failure to properly inspect and condemn defective construction in a building, where he testified that he inspected the work nearly every day and did not allow anything to go into the building that he did not think was good, and the contract required the work to be done under his direction, a non-suit was properly denied, and it was not error to give instructions as to his duty to see that proper materials were used, on the theory that he had nothing to do with the materials.