Pope v. Joschke
Pope v. Joschke
Opinion of the Court
This suit was instituted by ■appellee against Miss M. S. Pope, to recover $1,100 for boring a well and $522.10 for the value of the casing in the well. The suit ■was based on a written contract, in which ■appellee bound himself to bore a well on a tract of land belonging to Miss Pope, which would have a daily flow of 30 barrels of water, the casing therein to be five inches, and the owner of the land was permitted a test •of 90 days of the well after its completion. Pending the litigation, Miss M. S.. Pope died, and upon suggestion of her death the appellants herein, John B. Pope, Minnie Pope Watson and her husband, A. O. Watson, were ■made parties defendant. They admitted the execution of the contract, but denied performance of the terms of the contract on tne part of the appellee, in that a test of the ■well after its completion showed that it produced greatly less than 30 barrels daily, it being claimed by appellants that “barrel” •as used in the contract meant 50 gallons. Appellee in a supplemental petition claimed that “barrel” as used in the contract meant 31% gallons. This was the only material issue in the case, which was submitted on special issues and on their responses thereto that the barrel contemplated by the contract was 31% gallons, and the test of the well showed a flow of 1,220 gallons daily, judgment was rendered in favor of appel-lee against appellants for $1,622.10, with interest at 6 per cent, from January 1, 1919, and costs of suit
“In the event by boring of such a well a supply of water be obtained sufficient to fill thirty (30) barrels each and every day then said first party is permitted to test the capacity of said well for a period not exceeding ninety (90) days, and whenever at or before the expiration of said ninety (90) days the said supply be found of a sufficiency to fill thirty (30) barrels each and every day then the first party agrees to pay to the second party at Austin, Travis county, Texas, the sum of eleven hundred dollars ($1,100.00).”
It is the contention of appellants that the clause copied from the contract gave Miss. Pope the absolute power to determine whether there was sufficient water, from whose decision there could be no appeal in the absence of allegation and proof that she was guilty of fraud in making the test. We do not think that a legitimate or reasonable construction to be put upon the contract. In this case the testing of the well was permitted to Miss Pope, but there is nothing in the contract that tends to show that whatever test she might make should, be conclusive and final. Even under the test made by her the well did not fall short of the required amount, and although she may have acted in good faith in her test, appellee would be permitted to show that the test was not properly made, and that the well produced the required amount of water. There was no agreement as in the case of Kilgore v. Baptist Society, 89 Tex. 468, 35 S. W. 145, that the findings of some one should be conclusive. The estimates of the architect in tbat case had the eonclusiveness of judgments.
The test of the well made by appellants was a very unsatisfactory one, and the jury was fully justified in rejecting it. In measuring the water two carbide cans were used, and, although the witness, Thomas Deerow, called them 11-gallon cans, they were not shown to contain 11 gallons, except by the testimony of W!. M. Woods, who stated that “according to my measurement they held 11 gallons.” The lard barrels were not used in measuring, although in common use in the neighborhood, according to appellants’ evidence. Appellee tested the well with a meter, and it showed- a flow of 36 barrels and 20 gallons in 6 hours and 30 minutes, and he swore that the well would produce over 36 barrels every day. J. B. Wallace swore that he tested the well with 10-gallon buckets, and it produced 1.300 gallons in 8 hours. The meter was obtained at the city hall in Austin, and it was shown to be in good working order, and one of the men of the water department who had charge of it, and had been using meters for 9 years, swore that the meter used by appellee was the best made. That witness read the meter, and it registered, 1,820 gallons, 320 gallons more than required if 50 gallon barrels were intended.
The judgment is affirmed.
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Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.