Fix v. Craighill

169 S.E. 598, 160 Va. 742, 1933 Va. LEXIS 254
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedJune 15, 1933
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 169 S.E. 598 (Fix v. Craighill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fix v. Craighill, 169 S.E. 598, 160 Va. 742, 1933 Va. LEXIS 254 (Va. 1933).

Opinion

Epes, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

Edley Craighill and Fred L. Showalter, partners under the name of Craighill and Showalter, brought their action (instituted by a notice of motion for judgment) against George W. Fix and Henry S. Fix, partners under the name of J. A. Fix and Sons. The parties will be referred to herein as plaintiffs and defendants as they appeared in the trial court. The action is brought to recover $2,115.38 which the plaintiffs as subcontractors claim to be due to them from the defendants “for work done, materials furnished and labor performed” by them for the defendants. The [744]*744bill of particulars filed with and made a part of the notice divides the amount demanded into two items as follows:

“Item 1. Balance due plaintiff by defendants for concrete work, including labor and materials, done in construction of shop improvements for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company at Clifton Forge, Virginia, under the written contract made between the plaintiffs and defendants dated October 10, 1930,.......................$1,870.00

“Item 2. Balance due plaintiffs by defendants for sundry other items, for labor and materials furnished and work done by plaintiffs for defendants, on account settled and agreed to between them,......................$245.38.”

The defendants admitted that they owed the plaintiffs $242.38, and paid this amount into court. As to the residue of the amount sued for ($1,873.00) the defendants make three defenses, which are set forth in their grounds of defense filed under the general issue and also in the special pleas filed by them, the material parts of which pleas read:

(1) “There was a failure of consideration as to $1,878.-00 of the amount sued for.”

(2) “The defendants say that in making the contract referred to in the notice of motion, it was specifically understood and agreed that the price given by plaintiffs for the work to be done was to include certain work and materials for certain concrete work, which was in fact omitted and not required to be done, and that the parties had specifically agreed that work added to or omitted from the work contemplated was to be added to or subtracted from the contract price at the rate of $12.00 per cubic yard, and of the amount sued for the sum of $1,878.00 represents work contemplated but in fact omitted and not required to be done.”

(3) “The defendants say that as to the sum of $1,878.-00, claimed in the notice of motion, there was a mutual mistake made by plaintiffs and defendants as to the concrete work required to be done under plans and specifications referred to in the contract and that it was thought and mutually contemplated that certain concrete work, which [745]*745was not in fact required to be done, was to be done and that under the agreement of the parties additions and omissions from the work required to be done were to be added or subtracted as the case might require at the unit price of $12.00 per cubic yard, and defendants therefore claim that they are entitled to credit for the omission at the stipulated price, which would amount to the sum of $1,783.00.”

The defendants demurred to the evidence; the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs for “$1,870.00 plus the further sum of $242.38, paid into court, with interest from June 24, 1931, subject to the opinion of the court on the defendants’ demurrer to the evidence”; and the court entered judgment for the plaintiffs in accordance with the verdict. To this judgment the defendants have been granted a writ of error, and assign as error the action of the court in overruling their demurrer to the evidence.

The evidence, stated in the order of the sequence of the events disclosed by it, is as follows:

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company asked for bids for a project designated as “shop improvements at Clifton Forge,” the improvements to be made in accordance with designated plans and specifications and certain general conditions and requirements. The project included improvements to a number of the company’s shop buildings, and called for doing of various types of work (brick work, concrete work, etc.) and furnishing the materials therefor, and was to be let as a whole. This case, however, involves only the concrete work to be done in connection with the improvement of a building known as the tank shop (which faces almost due east), and more particularly with the construction of three tracks which are shown on the plans as lying outside of, and in rear (west) of, the tank shop.

Among the plans and specifications were two sheets of drawings relating to the improvements to be made to the tank shop. One of these (designated as drawing number 9675-A1) showed the floor plan of the tank shop with three tracks extending through the building, and, according to [746]*746the scale, approximately fifteen feet beyond (east of) its rear wall. At the western ends of the tracks as shown on this drawing is the notation “see situation plan—drawing number 9676-A1 for length of tracks.” Below the floor plan on drawing number 9675-A1 is a vertical cross section (section P-P) showing in detail the plan for the construction of the tracks. This cross section carries the notation “present concrete shall be removed for new track work,” and shows a track laid in, or upon, a strip of concrete seven feet six inches wide and sixteen inches thick.

The other sheet of drawings, number 9676-A1, shows the “situation plan” of the tank shop and other buildings which are adjacent to or near it. The scale of this drawing is one inch equals fifty feet, and the legend on it states that “new construction” is shown in red. It shows the following features in the area which is contiguous to, and west of, the tank shop. Distances given by us are distances west of the western wall of the tank shop and have been determined by an accurate scale of the blue print of the drawing filed as a part of the evidence in this case. The eastern line of an alleyway, or roadway, runs parallel to, and approximately seventy feet west of, the tank shop. Across this alleyway is a building designated “freight car repair blacksmith shop.” Abutting on the east line of the alleyway and extending eastward to a line approximately forty feet distant from the tank shop is an area (fifty feet long) which bears the notation “remove wheel storage platform and racks.” Three railway tracks are shown in red as running through the interior of the tank shop and extending westward into the area west of it. Two of these extend across the area denoted “wheel storage platform and racks,” to the east line of the alleyway above mentioned. The third passes to the north of the “wheel storage platform and racks,” and extends westward along what appears to be an east and west alleyway, or roadway, for approximately 350 feet. The whole length of these tracks as shown both outside and inside the tank shop are in red.

[747]*747Other than what is above stated, there is nothing in the plans and specifications to show whether any parts of these tracks outside the tank shop were required to be laid in concrete, or if any parts were required to be so laid, what the lengths of such parts were.

To lay the parts of these three tracks shown on drawing 9675-A1 in concrete would require the laying of approximately fifty cubic yards of concrete.

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169 S.E. 598, 160 Va. 742, 1933 Va. LEXIS 254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fix-v-craighill-va-1933.