Anderson v. Hassell
Anderson v. Hassell
Opinion of the Court
Appellants are the owners of two tracts of land situated on the Yakima Indian reservation. In order to secure a supply of water for irrigation purposes, they entered into a contract with respondent Hassell for the construction of a cement pipe line which should extend from a main irrigation ditch to appellants’ lands lying about a mile to the south of the main ditch.
Respondent National Surety Company carried the bond of the contractor in the sum of $4,000.
With the consent of all parties, the contract was, on March 26, 1913, modified to read that the pipe line should withstand a thirty-two-foot head of water instead of a thirty-foot head, and on the 30th day of April, 1913, the contract was still further modified in that respondent was released from the construction of the eight-inch pipe, and an extension of time was given for the completion of the remaining work. Respondent Surety Company did not sign this last contract. It now contends that there was a material modification of the original contract and, being made without its consent, it is released from the obligation of its bond. Under our holding, it is unnecessary to inquire into this question. The work was not completed within the time agreed, and there is evidence that the results obtained from the final tests of the pipe line were unsatisfactory.
The case is purely one of fact, and was tried to the court without a jury. The trial court, with all of the parties before it, found that the respondent Hassell complied with the
After a careful review of the record, we are not prepared to say that the holding of the trial court is not sustained by a preponderance of the evidence. The judgment is therefore affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.