Board of Education of Salt Lake City v. Wright-Osborn Co.

164 P. 1033, 49 Utah 453, 1917 Utah LEXIS 127
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedApril 19, 1917
DocketNo. 2930
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 164 P. 1033 (Board of Education of Salt Lake City v. Wright-Osborn Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Education of Salt Lake City v. Wright-Osborn Co., 164 P. 1033, 49 Utah 453, 1917 Utah LEXIS 127 (Utah 1917).

Opinion

FRICK, C. J.

The plaintiff, hereinafter designated respondent] commenced this action against the Wright-Osborn Company as contractor, hereinafter styled contractor, and against the Fidelity & De[456]*456posit Company of Maryland, hereinafter called appellant, in the district court of Salt Lake county, to recover on an indemnity bond made and delivered by the appellant to the respondent wherein the foianer agreed to indemnify the latter for any loss or damage it should sustain in case the contractor failed, neglected, or refused to comply with the provisions and conditions of its contract. The Joseph Nelson Supply Company, hereinafter called intervener, intervened in the action and set up a claim for material sold and delivered to the contractor which it alleged it had delivered to the contractor to be used in the school building being erected by the respondent, and which had not been paid for by the contractor.

The respondent alleged that it entered into a contract with the contractor whereby the latter agreed to furnish all the material and labor necessary to complete a heating and ventilating plant or system in a high school building which respondent was then erecting at Salt Lake City, Utah, that the contractor was required to furnish a bond for the faithful performance of its contract, and that it would promptly pay for all labor and material. The contract is set forth in full as an exhibit and is made a part of the complaint. The terms and conditions of the contract are numerous and specific. It is not necessary, except in one partncular, to set forth the many conditions and provisions contained in the contract, since those that are deemed material will be specifically referred to in the course of the opinion. Since the action, however, is more particularly based upon article 13 of the contract, and in view that one of the controlling questions involved on this appeal depends upon the construction of certain provisions contained therein, we quote said article in full. It reads as follows:

“Should the contractor, at any time refuse or neglect to supply a sufficiency of properly skilled workmen or of materials of the proper quality, or fail in any respect to prosecute the work with promptness and diligence, or fail in the performance of any of the agreements herein contained, such refusal, neglect, or failure being certified by the architects, the said second party shall be at liberty after three days’ written notice to the contractor or to any of his agents to provide [457]*457any such labor or materials, and to deduct the cost thereof from any money then due or thereafter to become due to the contractor under this contract; and such certificates of the architects, together with the action of the board thereon, shall be final and conclusive; and if the architects shall certify that such action be taken, the said second party shall also be at liberty at once to terminate the employment of .the contractor for the said work, and immediately to enter upon the premises and to take possession of all materials thereon, together with all tools, machinery, apparatus and conveniences, and in case of such discontinuance of the employment of the contractor, he shall not be entitled to receive any further payment under this contract until the said work shall be wholly finished, at which time, if the unpaid balance of the amount to be paid under this contract shall exceed the expenses incurred by the said second party in,finishing the work, such excess shall be paid by the said second party to the contractor, but if such expense shall exceed such unpaid balance, the contractor shall pay the difference to the said second party. The expense incurred by the said second party, as herein provided, either for furnishing materials, or for finishing the work and any damages incurred through sueh default, together with the value of the use of tools, machinery, materials, and conveniences that may be taken by the said second party, shall be audited and certified by the architects, and the decision of the said second party thereon shall be final and conclusive. And this shall be construed to mean not only the completion of the heating and ventilating system for the buildings, but the removal of all rubbish from the same, as well as from the grounds. ’ ’

The respondent, after alleging that the contractor had entered into the contract as aforesaid, also further alleged:

That the appellant had made and delivered to the respondent a certain bond in which appellant had agreed to indemnify the respondent in case said contractor should fail to comply with the conditions of its contract in completing and installing said heating and ventilating plant; that the contractor had failed to comply with the provisions of its contract in the following particulars, namely: That the contractor had “attempted to furnish material of a poor and inferior and im[458]*458proper quality, * * * and not of the quality required by the specifications and contract, and furnished and delivered at said building and attempted to put in place therein inferior and improper boilers not in accordance with the contract and insufficient for the purpose for which they were used, and * * * wholly neglected to supply a sufficiency of properly skilled workmen and failed to prosecute the work with promptness and diligence; that on the 17th day of January, 1913, the architect mentioned and referred to in said building contract, ‘Exhibit 1,’ certified in writing that said contractor had refused and neglected to supply a sufficiency of properly skilled workmen and had refused and neglected to supply a sufficiency of material of the proper quality, and had failed to prosecute the work with promptness and diligence, and had failed generally in the performance of the agreements on said contractor’s part to be performed, and further certified in writing to the plaintiff that it was necessary for the plaintiff to terminate the employment of the said Wright-Osborn Company in respect of and arising from said contract, and that such action of termination of said employment should be taken by the plaintiff, and thereupon, and on the same day, the said plaintiff did, by resolution, at once terminate the said employment, and thereupon notified each of the defendants of said action;” that the contractor furnished material of inferior quality for hangers for the air ducts and that said hangers were improperly placed; that the contractor failed “to do skilled workmanship in making the joints” in certain pipes and failed to “properly ream said pipes”; that said contractor “wholly failed and refused to proceed in the execution and performance of its said contract, so that agreeably to the provisions of said contract the further employment of the said * * * (contractor) was by plaintiff terminated.”

Respondent then alleged that it had completed the work the contractor had agreed to do, specifically stating the-cost thereof, and demanded judgment for the amount it had expended in excess of the contract price. A copy of the indemnity bond made and delivered by the appellant was also attached to and made a part of the complaint. The special [459]*459provisions of the bond that are material to this controversy-will be referred to in the course of the opinion. In view that the sufficiency of the architect’s certificate is assailed, we append the same in full. It reads as follows:

“We have made an exhaustive investigation of the facts and circumstances relative to the performance of the contract existing between.your board and the Wright-Osborn Company, dated July 1, A; D.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
164 P. 1033, 49 Utah 453, 1917 Utah LEXIS 127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-education-of-salt-lake-city-v-wright-osborn-co-utah-1917.