Klas v. Pearce Hardware & Furniture Co.

168 N.W. 425, 202 Mich. 334, 1918 Mich. LEXIS 494
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 18, 1918
DocketDocket No. 6
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 168 N.W. 425 (Klas v. Pearce Hardware & Furniture Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Klas v. Pearce Hardware & Furniture Co., 168 N.W. 425, 202 Mich. 334, 1918 Mich. LEXIS 494 (Mich. 1918).

Opinion

Moore, J.

The questions involved in this litigation are so clearly stated by the circuit judge in his direction to the jury that we quote:

“Gentlemen of the jury, the plaintiff has brought this case against the defendant to recover for certain extra work and labor which he claims to be performed for the defendant in remodeling and constructing certain buildings in the village of Lake Linden.
“The plaintiff’s claim in substance is, that on or about the 4th day of October, 1915, he entered into a contract in writing with the said defendant for the remodeling and construction of certain buildings, the property of said defendant; that at the time the contract was entered into certain specifications were drawn and agreed to and made a part of the contract; that under the contract the defendant was to furnish the materials used in remodeling and erecting said buildings, and the plaintiff was to furnish all labor and complete the buildings according to the contract and specifications, and was to receive therefor the sum of $2,469. The plaintiff has received the full amount due him under the contract and he makes no claim for any balance due on the original contract, but brings this action to recover for certain additional work and labor which he claims to have performed and furnished, which was extra, outside of and in addition to that agreed upon in the original contract and specifications.
“The original contract, which is in writing provides among other things that any additional work not specified for may, after a written permission by said party of the first part be added to said contract price, which charge will be on an actual labor cost, plus a commission of 21 per cent.
“There is no claim on the part of the plaintiff that there was any written permission given him by the defendant by either one of its agents, Mr. Chester Pearce or Mr. Ransom Pearce, for doing extra work done during the progress of the work on that building. According to that clause in the contract, before the plaintiff could charge for any extra work at all, it was [336]*336his duty to secure the written permission to do that work from some one in authority representing the Pearce Hardware Company, otherwise he could not recover in law for that extra work. But it is the claim of the plaintiff that during the progress of the work he was called upon to do certain extra work and make certain changes and alterations, and that he called the attention of Mr. Chester Pearce to the fact that there was a clause requiring a permission to do extra work to be given in writing, and that Mr. Pearce said that there was necessity of going back to the contract on that point, that they were not children, they were willing to pay for any work they would order, and that they had had thousands of dollars worth of work done for them and were willing to pay for anything they ordered. It was also admitted in the evidence that Mr. Ransom Pearce said, ‘T want you to send me a bill of the extra work you do, every month,” and that the plaintiff sent bill every six weeks; that there was no objection made to those bills. And the evidence also shows, without any dispute, that the defendant has paid more than the amount of the original contract; has paid $131.00. more than the original contract, and has also given the plaintiff credit for a certain hardware bill amounting to $122 and some cents. The payment made by the defendant of the $131 above the contract price was unquestionably paid on extras and was unquestionably paid for a bill of extras which had previously been rendered by the plaintiff.
“The defendant claims that in the state of the record and in the state of the evidence there is no question for the jury as to the waiver of the clause in the written contract relating to the written authorization necessary before extras could be charged for. That the conversation had between the plaintiff and Chester Pearce or between the plaintiff and Ransom Pearce, as the case may be (if there was more than one conversation) , related to particular pieces of work, and was not a sweeping and general waiver of the clause in the contract requiring written authorization for extras before being charged for them, and it is the claim on the part of the.plaintiff, however, that all of the circumstances taken together indicate that both parties understood that that clause would be waived — that is, [337]*337that the defendant intended to waive it, and the plaintiff relied upon it being waived, and therefore did not insist upon getting authorization for the extra work he had done. * * *
“I do not believe that the defendant ever intentionally waived that clause in the contract. I recognize perhaps, that there is a certain injustice, that the plaintiff went on and performed this extra work voluntarily» for the benefit of the defendant, and not able to recover for it. But the plaintiff is an intelligent man; he knew the clause was in the contract, and it was talked about before the contract was entered into, and if he did any extra work on his own motion, if he did some extras he must be regarded as a volunteer, and he cannot recover. * * *
“This is not a court of arbitration. If I were sitting as a court of arbitration I should probably allow the whole bill. But this is not a court of arbitration; this is a court of law. The parties must stand on their own rights. It is not a question of give and take; they must be held down to legal rules and to waive a clause in a legal contract it must be the intentional relinquishment of a known right. Now, was there any intentional relinquishment on the part of the defendant of this right to insist on a specific written authority for those extras? I am compelled by a careful review of the evidence to say no, that there is no such intention shown.”

The judge directed a verdict for the defendant. The case is brought here by writ of error.

The questions involved are:

1. Did the defendant, by its officers and agents, Ransom Pearce and Chester Pearce, expressly or impliedly waive the condition in the contract providing for written permission to do extra work?

2. Was the question of waiver a question of fact to be submitted to the jury?

In addition to what was said by the trial judge it may be well to call attention to some details of the testimony. It is not in dispute that Ransom Pearce was manager of the defendant and authorized to make [338]*338contracts for it. It is difficult to harmonize the testimony of the plaintiff and the two Pearces. On his direct examination Ransom Pearce testified:

“I never had any conversation with Mr. Klas relative to the waiving of the contract providing for extras.”

On his cross-examination the following appears in part:

“l do remember how the first extra work come about. I ordered Mr. Klas to do extra work. I do not remember when I ordered the first extra work done. It was more than three weeks after Mr. Klas started on the job. * * *
“At the time I gave him the check for $200 on the 29th of March, we owed him nothing on the contract. We .had paid the original contract in full. At that time I recognized there was some extra work done by Mr._ Klas. Qn the 10th day of June I paid him an additional hundred dollars, and at that time I recognized that there was some extra work done by Mr. Klas.

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Bluebook (online)
168 N.W. 425, 202 Mich. 334, 1918 Mich. LEXIS 494, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/klas-v-pearce-hardware-furniture-co-mich-1918.