Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland v. Kelsay Lumber Co.

29 S.W.2d 1052
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedJune 25, 1930
DocketNo. 1178—5503
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 29 S.W.2d 1052 (Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland v. Kelsay Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland v. Kelsay Lumber Co., 29 S.W.2d 1052 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1930).

Opinion

SHORT, P. J.

The record of this lawsuit dates from the filing of the original petition on July 2, 1912. Its progress, through three trials in the district court and corresponding appeals from judgments rendered there to the Courts of Civil Appeals, and to the Supreme Court, is indicated by the opinion of the Amarillo Court of Civil Appeals, reported in 178 S. W. 837; the opinion by the Commission of Appeals, wherein its holding was expressly approved by the Supreme Court, reported in 228 S. W. 558; the opinion of this section of the Commission of Appeals, in answer to certified questions, reported in 12 S.W.(2d) 973, and the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals at Fort Worth, reported in 19 S.W.(2d) 618, from which several opinions may be gathered a complete history of the case. The record is so voluminous that it is not practicable to give in this opinion more than a general outline of the questions involved.

There are two applications for writs of error, one by the plaintiff in error, S. Rotsky, one of the original defendants in the trial court, and the other by the Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland, another original defendant, wherein the defendant in error, Kelsay Lumber Company, a corporation, was the original plaintiff and has continued to be the only plaintiff in the case.

Briefly, the defendant in. error, Kelsay Lumber Company, filed this suit against the two plaintiffs in error and W. M. Helm, besides some other defendants, who were dismissed from the ease at the last trial of the case in the district court. The purpose of the suit was to recover from the plaintiffs in error and Helm a certain lumber and material bill, amounting to the sum of $3,167.65. The original petition, as well as the first and second amended petitions, alleged that the Kel-say Lumber Company had furnished to Helm, as a building contractor, the lumber and building material mentioned in the petition, which was used in the construction of a certain building for the plaintiff in error, Rot-sky, of the value stated in the petition, which building Helm had contracted to construct for Rotsky, in which Helm was to furnish and pay for all labor and material necessary to construct the building, according to certain plans and specifications, and for which Helm had not paid; that the lumber company had an agreement with the owner, Rotsky, and the contractor, Helm, whereby the lumber company would not be paid for its material on weekly estimates, as provided in the contract, made between Rotsky and Helm, but that the owner, Rotsky, was to hold back, out of the contract price, for the building a sum of money due the contractor sufficient to pay the material bill, which bill was to be paid directly to the lumber company by the owner. The petition also alleged that the plaintiff in error, Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland, had become surety for the contractor in two bonds, aggregating $5,000, conditioned for the faithful performance of the obligations of the contractor, set forth in the contract made with Rotsky.

[1054]*1054The plaintiff in error,- Rotsky, denied liability in Ms answer and filed a cross-action against the surety company, based on the conditions in the bonds. Likewise the surety company denied liability to Rotsky as well as to the lumber company on various grounds, some of which will be discussed. The ease was tried on special issue, and the jury answered the following six questions in the affirmative;

“Question one: Was there an agreement between R. E. Kelsay and W. M. Helm in substance that the lumber bill of Kelsay Lumber Company should be paid by Rotsky through the withholding by him of money going to Holm under the contract, and the lumber bill to be paid directly by Rotsky to the Kelsay Lumber Company out of money thus withheld?
“Question two: If you answer Question One in the affirmative, then was Weinman given notice by any representative of the Lumber Company of the agreement, if there was such, inquired about in Question One? |
“Question three: If you have answered Question Two in the affirmative, then did there become due to Helm after the giving of, such notice, money earned under the contract' in an amount more than the lumber bill of the] Kelsay Lumber Company?
“Question four: Did Weinman have authority from Rotsky to receive notice of the agree-; ment, if any, stated in Question One.and to( determine for Rotsky whether funds coming, to Helm under the contract would be so with-] held.
“Question five: Did the architect Weinman' agree with the Kelsay Lumber Company, or any of its representatives that he, Weinman, would hold back enough money out of the contract price to pay the lumber bill of the Kelsay Lumber Company? .
“Question six:' If you have answered Question Five in the negative, you need not answer this question, but if you have answered same in the affirmative, then you will answer: Did the defendant Rotsky at any time authorize the architect Weinman to agree with Kelsay Lumber Co. that enough money out of the contract price would be withheld to pay the lumber bill of the Kelsay Lumber Company?”

It answered the following question, which was the seventh, in the negative.

“Question seven: Did the defendant Rotsky agree with Kelsay Lumber Company, or any of its representatives, to hold back out of the contract price a sufficient amount of money to pay the lumber bill of Kelsay Lumber Co.?”

Based upon the answers to these questions, judgment was rendered that Kelsay Lumber Company recover from S. Rotsky the sum of $5,938.46, together with interest thereon from the 29th day of July, 1927, at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum until paid, with all costs of the suit, with the exception of the cost of the first appeal, and writ of error to the Supreme Court; and after reciting certain provisions of the two bonds, executed by the Fidelity & Deposit Company as surety for the contractor, Helm,( judgment was rendered against the surety company in favor of Rotsky for the same amount of the judgment which had been rendered against Rotsky in favor of the lumber company. This judgment also disposed of the rights of certain interveners, which part of the judgment has become final and is therefore not before us. Before the last trial Helm had died and his estate being insolvent, as to him the suit was abated.

The court, in its decree, denied foreclosure soiight to be fixed, established, and foreclosed by the defendant in error, upon the land upon which the building is located, and also denied any recovery by the lumber company against the surety company. To this judgment, so rendered, all the parties, that is to say, the lumber company, the surety company, and Rotsky, excepted and gave notice of appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals. However, ^he lumber company did not perfect its appeal, while the other parties did.

■ The case having reached the Court of Civil ^Appeals at Fort Worth, and while pending there the following questions were certified ¡to the Supreme Court by the Court .of Civil Appeals:

“ ‘1. Were the plaintiff’s pleadings, upon • which the last trial was had, sufficient to (show a right of recovery upon the theory of ,an equitable assignment, noted above?
“ ‘2.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 S.W.2d 1052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fidelity-deposit-co-of-maryland-v-kelsay-lumber-co-texcommnapp-1930.