AQS Lumber Co. v. Heathman

149 So. 2d 335, 246 Miss. 314, 1963 Miss. LEXIS 445
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 28, 1963
DocketNo. 42520
StatusPublished

This text of 149 So. 2d 335 (AQS Lumber Co. v. Heathman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
AQS Lumber Co. v. Heathman, 149 So. 2d 335, 246 Miss. 314, 1963 Miss. LEXIS 445 (Mich. 1963).

Opinion

Lee, P. J.

Mrs. Wilma K. Heathman, by her bill of complaint, sought to prevent AQS Lumber Company, a domestic corporation, from foreclosing, on February 16, 1962, a deed of trust for $3,050 which she had executed on July 26, 1961, and which secured the payment of a series of notes due September 15, November 1, and December 31, 1961. The chancellor ordered the issuance of a temporary injunction upon the giving of a good and sufficient bond in the sum of $1,000.

The original and amended bills of complaint set forth in great detail the terms of the contract between the parties whereby the Lumber Company undertook to build a skating rink for the complainant; the considerations of the contract and its payment by means of borrowing money from the Bank of Indianola and the balance payable by the complainant as evidenced by a second deed of trust; the improper construction of an aluminum roof on the building, as a result of which it leaked and [318]*318damaged the floor, required the refund of fees from patrons during rains, and resulted in loss of patronage because of the spread of, such knowledge; the complete failure of the defendant to remedy the leaky condition; the impossibility of complainant’s position in having borrowed $16,000, which the defendant had already received, and also obligated herself to pay the defendant over $3,000 more to get her building, and then not have one in which to operate the skating business because the defendant had not complied with its agreement. She alleged that she did not have a full, complete and adequate remedy at law, and pointed out her difficulty in showing that much of her proof in a court of law would not be speculative. She sought the performance of the contract, and to that end, she prayed that the damage, which she had sustained, be first adjudicated, and that foreclosure he permitted only for any balance to which the notes might amount over and above the aggregate amount of the ascertained damage to her. There was also a prayer for general relief.

The defendant, in its answer, denied all of the material allegations of the bill, and, in addition, set up several grounds of demurrer. In addition, it sought certain relief by cross bill.

After final hearing, the decree overruled the demurrers and continued the injunction in effect until the defendant completed the building by furnishing the complainant a satisfactory roof. It granted to the complainant an offset of $2,800 against the defendant’s claim, but provided that the defendant could satisfy this offset either by completing the contract, including the furnishing to complainant of a satisfactory roof with a five-year guarantee, or crediting the notes with that amount. No attorneys fees or other fees were allowed. Certain relief was granted to defendant on its cross bill but that phase of the case is not in controversy. From the decree entered, the defendant appealed.

[319]*319Mrs. Heathman testified that she knew nothing about building construction but that she had a general idea, gained from skating rink people, as to the size, etc. that her building should be; that she explained this to Kennedy Quick, the managing head of the defendant-company; that she wanted a building 120 by 54 feet; that Quick agreed for his Company to prepare the plans and details and erect the building for' $18,650, with $16,-000 being paid from the proceeds of a loan which she would obtain from the Indianola Bank, and $2,650 to be due upon completion (July 27th) and be secured by a second deed of trust which she would give on the building, with $650 payable September 15, $1,000 on November 1, and a balance of $1,000 on December 31, 1961. The floor was laid while the roof was still leaking. She executed the notes and deed of trust before the building was completed on the assurance of Quick that the roof had been repaired. On that same date, he had executed a warranty for the Company that “the roof on said building will not leak and agrees to do any and all things necessary for said period of time of one year to repair any leaks, immediately, which have appeared or which may appear, and to move with dispatch in doing so * * * without charge to owner * * V’ But shortly after, while she was in the hospital, her husband reported that the roof was leaking, and she complained over the telephone to the defendant’s office about it. After every hard rain, it literally poured into the building. She used bottles, pans and vessels of all kinds to catch the leaking water, and it splashed over the floor and made it wet and slick in many places. This condition made the floor dangerous to skaters. On at least three occasions, she had to refund fees which had been collected from skaters during the program period when it began to rain. Besides, the report spread that there could be no skating after it rained, and her patronage shrank during cloudy or rainy weather. The [320]*320defendant finally put another roof on the building, but, evidently because of improper construction, it continued to leak as bad or worse than it bad at first. On one occasion there was a hailstorm and people picked up hands full of hail which had come through the roof. You could look up and “see daylight” through the roof when the sun was shining. Testifying at the trial in May 1962, she said: “today there must be at least one hundred leaks in the roof.” She said that, a few days before beginning the foreclosure proceedings, the defendant started another mere temporary measure of painting the roof in the hope that this might cover up the holes for a few days. But she sent an experienced man to examine the roof and found that this was a mere temporary measure.

John F. Bose, a roofer, with thirty years experience, testified that the cost of a B-crimp aluminum roof on this building would be approximately $2,800. Corrugated roofing must have an overlap of two and one-half corrugations; and, if there is improper lapping, the only way to repair is to take it off and put it on right— it will never do to put one over the other.

Lawrence Beck, a carpenter with fifteen years experience, testified that he patched the floor with plastic wood where wet spots were caused from leaks in the roof. He had stood on the inside, looked up, and “seen daylight shining through.” That was after the second roof had been put on. It was a poor job. Carpenters missed the ramp with the nails. The seams of the second roof were exactly over those of the first. The lap was only one-half of a corrugation. The nails pulled it down flat and let the water run over it. There was no corrugated ridge row. He saw evidence of aluminum asphalt, referred to by Mrs. Heathman as paint, and said that it is purely temporary — in hot weather, it expands, and in cold weather, it draws up and breaks loose. He said that, if the first roof is leaking, a second roof, if [321]*321placed directly over it, will leak also; and that this was true in this case.

About ten witnesses, who had been in the skating rink on many and various different occasions when it was raining, testified about the roof’s leaking and the use of vessels of different kinds in an effort to catch the water.

Kennedy Quick testified about how the contract was entered into. He admitted that he had some doubt, at the time of the laying of the first roof, whether it was being done correctly; but that his foreman seemed sure that he was doing it right. However, when the roof was on, it leaked; and the witness admitted that it was put on wrong in the first instance.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
149 So. 2d 335, 246 Miss. 314, 1963 Miss. LEXIS 445, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aqs-lumber-co-v-heathman-miss-1963.