Heman v. City of St. Louis

112 S.W. 259, 213 Mo. 538, 1908 Mo. LEXIS 198
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 3, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 112 S.W. 259 (Heman v. City of St. Louis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Heman v. City of St. Louis, 112 S.W. 259, 213 Mo. 538, 1908 Mo. LEXIS 198 (Mo. 1908).

Opinion

WOODSON, J.

This is a suit on a contract for extra work done and materials furnished- by plaintiff under a contract with the city to construct and repair sidewalks upon the streets thereof.

The petition was in three counts, and the answer consisted of a general denial and several special defenses, all of which are mentioned in the referee’s report, which will follow in full. The cause was referred to the late Mr. Arba N. Crane, who found the issues for plaintiff, and reported those findings to the court. Exceptions to the report of the referee were overruled, and judgment rendered thereon for plaintiff. Defendant excepted, and, after an unavailing motion for a new trial, duly appealed to this court.

As the issues made by the pleadings, and the facts found by the referee, are clearly stated in his report to the court, for economy of space we will here set out the report, which is as follows:

“I, the undersigned, to whom the above-entitled cause was referred to try the issues herein, having duly qualified by taking the statutory oath, have proceeded to hear the cause on said order,*both parties appearing.
“The testimony adduced before me appears in the record of four volumes, which I file herewith, and I also file the exhibits introduced at the hearing.
“The petition, amended by interlineation, has three counts. The statement is simplified by dealing first exclusively with the first count, the decision as [543]*543to which involves almost every point to be decided as to the other two counts.
“The defendant entered into a valid contract with plaintiff, numbered 3,520', for the construction of sidewalks with artificial stone flagging, and repairing sidewalks with brick whenever and wherever directed by the street commissioner of defendant within the portion of the city of St. Louis defined in the contract, from the date of the contract in June, 1893, to July 1, 1894. Under that contract plaintiff acted. These allegations of the petition are met only by general denial, and I find have been proved without conflicting evidence. The petition which sets out the contract in liaec verba, proceeds to state that plaintiff in course of various constructions which he was called on to make under the contract, under the orders and directions of defendant’s street commissioner, did extra work and furnished extra material. Exhibit B 2, referred to in the petition and treated by me as part thereof, states under respective notice numbers, orders for construction and repair involving such alleged extra work and material and the prices charged therefor. The defense, applying to all of the three counts, is a general denial, and a special defense, the gist of which is, first, that under provisions of the charter of the city of St. Louis, cited in the answer, the city cannot be held liable for the extra work claimed in the petition; second, that the contract, arguing from certain cited provisions, does not bear an interpretation authorizing any charge for such extra work; third, that any provision of the contract' authorizing such charge would be void as in contravention of the city’s charter; and, fourth, that plaintiff had received special taxbills in full discharge of all claims under the contract. The reply is a general denial of the answer.
“The general situation, as I suppose both sides concede it — at all events, as I formally find it — is as [544]*544follows: When a piece of sidewalk within the district covered by plaintiff’s contract had been found by the city authorities to require re-construction, the owner of the adjoining premises was notified. If he failed to do the work within a defined time, plaintiff was notified by the street commissioner to reconstruct. This notice to the owner was a prerequisite to the issuance of a special taxbill for the work done by plaintiff. This notice to the contractor, plaintiff, was in writing. For this reconstruction plaintiff was paid by special tax-bills against the owner, which taxbills were for the exact amount of space covered by the work. Such orders to plaintiff to reconstruct were frequent, often several on a day. When carrying out this reconstruction, incidental work would frequently be necessary. There would be public constructions on the sidewalk, such as the'cover of the sewer inlets and the various plugs and meters ih public use; there would also be coal holes in the middle of the walk, and steps and entrances of various kinds adjoining the building. The sidewalk in each case was to be an uninterrupted plane. I find that the city required that of plaintiff. When a condemned sidewalk was reconstructed, the structure mentioned, in very many cases, if left untouched, would have constituted irregularities, depressions or protuberances. I find under the evidence that the plaintiff was required by the street commissioner to adjust all these structures to the plane of the sidewalk.
“We have thus a class of alleged extra work arising out of the city’s demand that everything about the sidewalk should be adjusted to the required plane. With these items I have associated the cases where extra work is claimed on steps or other structures appertaining to the premises of the property adjoining the sidewalk, supposed to be in fulfillment of the city’s duty to adjust such structures, to reconstruct the sidewalk and to see to it that the owner was in no way [545]*545injured by tbe change. This class of items it is practically impossible to separate from the preceding group, so far as plaintiff’s bill is concerned; since the items of that bill in most instances cover both hinds of work in one item without indications by which apportionment can be made. Since all these items arose under an order from the street commissioner, as will appear by my subsequent findings, I deem it unnecessary, for the purpose of any legal question, to attempt discrimination between extra work on the sidewalk and extra work on construction of the adjoining property. All items of Exhibit B 2 covering any work claimed to be done incidentally to carrying out the work which was done under any notice given by the street commissioner are grouped together in the first list of ultimate findings hereinafter set forth. In that same group, I have placed such cases of extra grading or filling as appear in the contract.
“Another class of items in plaintiff’s account rests on this state of affairs: The city would order plaintiff to reconstruct some sidewalk. This order would give the width of the sidewalk, either expressly or by use of the term ‘full width,’ which has an understood meaning in each locality. The plaintiff would excavate and lay cinders to the required width. Then, he claims, the city would order him to lay a narrower sidewalk; he finished the narrower sidewalk, receiving his special taxbill therefor; and introduces in his account an item for the cost of preparing the excess over the finished sidewalk by excavating and placing of cinders. My second list of ultimate findings covers this class of items. -
“A third group is composed of a few cases where plaintiff was directed to reconstruct, and, after he had done some work, was ordered to stop.
“Fourthly, is a single case where plaintiff, under [546]*546claim of order, reconstructed a piece of pavement beyond tbe limits fixed in tbe notice to tbe adjoining proprietor and in the notice following thereon to plaintiff.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
112 S.W. 259, 213 Mo. 538, 1908 Mo. LEXIS 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heman-v-city-of-st-louis-mo-1908.