Huetter v. Warehouse & Realty Co.

142 P. 675, 81 Wash. 331, 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1608
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 15, 1914
DocketNo. 11406
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 142 P. 675 (Huetter v. Warehouse & Realty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Huetter v. Warehouse & Realty Co., 142 P. 675, 81 Wash. 331, 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1608 (Wash. 1914).

Opinion

Crow, C. J.

— Action by John T. Huetter and Joseph Zimgibl, copartners, against Warehouse & Realty Company, a corporation, to recover the amount claimed to be due upon a construction contract. From a judgment in plaintiffs’ favor, the defendant has appealed, and plaintiffs, being dissatisfied with the amount of the judgment, have cross-appealed. We will refer to the parties as plaintiffs and defendant.

On August 24, 1908, the defendant, Warehouse & Realty Company, for an agreed consideration of $86,900, entered into a written contract with the city of Spokane, whereby it agreed to construct a large fill and viaduct on Sprague avenue ; the work to be done in accordance with plans and specifications prepared by the city engineer, and under the supervision, and to the satisfaction of the city engineer. On October 24, 1908, this contract was sublet by the defendant to plaintiffs; it being agreed that plaintiffs were to perform their subcontract in exact accordance with the plans and specifications prepared by the city engineer. Plaintiffs were to be paid on stated estimates made by the city engineer; eighty per cent thereof to be paid on each estimate when made and delivered, the remaining twenty per cent to be retained until the entire improvement was completed.

Plaintiffs entered upon the performance of their contract, and continued work until September 17, 1909, when a large portion of the south wall of the fill collapsed and fell. The work had been done in exact compliance with the plans and specifications, under the supervision and direction of the city engineer, who had made and delivered to plaintiffs a number of estimates. Neither of the plaintiffs was an engineer, but after the wall had fallen, they employed two expert civil engineers to examine the work and the plans and specifications, and report whether performance of the contract would be possible. These engineers, after examination, determined and reported that the plans were defective, and that any wall constructed in accordance therewith would not stand. Plaintiffs notified defendant of this report, and announced their [333]*333readiness to proceed with the work if the plans were modified so as to make the construction possible. The city ordered the defendant corporation to proceed with the work, and defendant in turn ordered plaintiffs to proceed. This the plaintiffs refused to do under the existing plans. The defendant thereupon endeavored to complete the work, and a short time thereafter a large portion of the north wall fell. Thereupon, defendant abandoned the work. Sometime later, the plans were changed, and the work was completed under the new plans.

Prior to October 9, 1909, the defendant had paid plaintiffs $54,755.86, eighty per cent on estimates. On that date, the city engineer made and delivered to plaintiffs a further estimate to the effect that all the work then completed, including that previously estimated, was of the value of $71,359.70, and that there was then due plaintiffs $2,067.20; it being understood that twenty per cent of the total estimates was still to be withheld. The amount then due, the defendant did not pay. About June 12, 1909, plaintiffs entered into a contract with Brown Brothers, of Spokane, for an iron railing to be placed on the fill as required by the plans and specifications, at a cost of $2,775. This railing was never used, although tendered to the defendant by the plaintiffs.

After the work had been completed by the city, the defendant instituted a proceeding in mandamus against the city and its officials, to compel the engineer to make, and the city to allow, an estimate in the sum of $18,662.15 for work done by plaintiffs. In that proceeding the defendant asserted and established the fact that the plans and specifications were worthless; that the work could not be performed thereunder; and obtained judgment in accordance with its demand.

At the time plaintiffs ceased work, 1,500 yards of rock had been blasted on defendant’s lots for use in the fill. It was stipulated upon the trial that it had cost plaintiffs $725 to blast this rock. It was also stipulated that plaintiffs had drilled one hundred and eight holes for further blasting, at an [334]*334expense of $108. Defendant afterwards used this rock, and availed itself of the benefit of the holes in its attempt to prosecute the work. It further appears that, when defendant undertook to complete the work, it used certain tools and equipment belonging to plaintiffs, the rental value of which was stipulated to be $625. The defendant refused to make any further payments to plaintiffs for the work done by them before the walls fell, and plaintiffs instituted this action to recover the twenty per cent retained, the unpaid estimate, and the other items above mentioned.

On the trial, no material dispute appeared as to the facts or the amounts involved, and the trial court directed a verdict and judgment in plaintiffs’ favor for $26,967.29. Plaintiffs had demanded the further sum of $2,982.15 as profits which they would have realized had they completed the contract. This item the court refused to allow, and on such refusal, plaintiffs predicate their cross-appeal.

Defendant’s main contention is that it was plaintiffs’ duty to complete the work in accordance with their contract. It insists that the contract was an entirety; that plaintiffs are not entitled to recover, having failed to complete it, even though it was impossible of performance, and that plaintiffs are not excused from complete performance by reason of defective plans and specifications prepared by the city engineer. It further insists that the plans were furnished by the city and not by defendant; that they were on file with the city clerk; that plaintiffs had access to them, and are in no position to insist that, by reason of defects in the plans and specifications rendering the contract impossible of performance, they are exonerated from performing their work; that, not being so exonerated, and having failed to complete their contract, they are not entitled to recover the twenty per cent of estimates withheld, or to recover upon the other demands presented in their complaint.

In support of its contention that plaintiffs were compelled to finish the work in accordance with the defective plans and [335]*335specifications, and must suffer any loss occasioned by the falling of the wall, the defendant, with other citations, directs our attention to Americam, Surety Co. v. San Antonio Loan & Trust Co. (Tex. Civ. App.), 98 S. W. 387, and Lonergan v. San Antonio Loam & Trust Co. (Tex.), 104 S. W. 1061, the cases mentioned being the ones upon which it places its main reliance. These Texas cases seem to support defendant’s contention; but, from the doctrine there announced, we withhold our consent, believing it illogical, contrary to our previous rulings, and in conflict with decisions from other courts which we are constrained to follow. In Ward v. Pantages, 73 Wash. 208, 131 Pac. 642, the plaintiffs, as contractors, installed a plumbing system and a heating plant in defendants’ building in strict compliance with plans and specifications prepared by an architect whom defendants had employed. The work proved unsatisfactory. Holding that plaintiffs were entitled to recover, and citing the case of MacKnight Flintic Stone Co. v. Mayor etc., 160 N. Y. 72, 54 N. E. 661, to which reference is hereinafter made, we said:

“Appellants earnestly contend that the systems adopted, especially for the heating plant, were suggested and warranted by respondents.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
142 P. 675, 81 Wash. 331, 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1608, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huetter-v-warehouse-realty-co-wash-1914.