Meyers Plumbing & Heating Supply Co. v. West End Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n

498 A.2d 966, 345 Pa. Super. 559, 1985 Pa. Super. LEXIS 8694
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 27, 1985
Docket479
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 498 A.2d 966 (Meyers Plumbing & Heating Supply Co. v. West End Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meyers Plumbing & Heating Supply Co. v. West End Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n, 498 A.2d 966, 345 Pa. Super. 559, 1985 Pa. Super. LEXIS 8694 (Pa. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

ROWLEY, Judge:

This is an appeal from an Order granting summary judgment in favor of appellees, Shipkovitz and Thinnes, who are owners of properties in Pittsburgh. Appellant subcontractor supplied materials used in the renovation of appellees’ property. This appeal is concerned solely with the owners’ liability to appellant for unpaid materials as summary judgment was granted only to them. The action is still pending against the other defendants.

The owners entered into a building construction contract with appellee Vorobyov, the general contractor, for renovation of their properties. The contract provided that Vorobyov was to furnish all labor and materials, including plumbing and heating materials. The owners and Vorobyov also entered into a Non-Lien Agreement which stipulated that no claim for work or materials would be made against the owners except as provided in their building construction contract. In addition, Vorobyov signed a Contractor Warranty which provided, inter alia, that he would protect, defend and indemnify the owners from any claims for unpaid work, labor or materials and that final payment would not be made until he delivered to the owners a complete release of all liens arising out of Vorobyov’s performance.

The owners entered into a Construction Loan Agreement with appellee West End Federal Savings and Loan to finance the construction and renovation. Pursuant to the request of Vorobyov and to satisfy any misgivings of appellant, West End Federal sent a letter to appellant informing him that disbursement checks payable jointly to Vorobyov and appellant would be issued in amounts necessary to cover materials purchased and work performed and further, that disbursements would not be made until work was *562 completed and West End Federal had in its possession a satisfactory inspection report.

A dispute arose between the owners and Vorobyov, and the owners instructed West End Federal to stop all construction payments. Appellant filed suit against all parties for plumbing and heating materials ordered by and sold to Vorobyov, and not yet paid for.

The owners filed a Motion for Summary Judgment which the trial court granted. The court found that there was neither a direct contractual relationship between the owners and appellant for purposes of paying for the materials supplied by appellant, nor any provision in the contract between the owners and Vorobyov creating in appellant a third party beneficiary status. In addition, the trial court found that there was no genuine issue of fact as to whether any oral promises had been made to appellant by the owners and that no recovery could be had as a matter of law. We agree.

Appellant presents four issues on appeal: first, whether appellee West End Federal acted as the agent of the owners when it sent the letter outlining the method and conditions for the disbursement of the construction loan proceeds for appellant and Vorobyov; second, whether the fact that the owners sometimes made themselves payees on the construction loan checks, in addition to appellant and Vorobyov, thereby making it necessary to have all three endorsements created a contractual relationship between appellant and the owners making appellant a third party beneficiary; third, whether appellant should be entitled to proceed with his cause of action against the owners on the theory of unjust enrichment; fourth, whether there are any genuine issues of material fact still remaining making it improper for the trial court to have granted the owners’ Motion for Summary Judgment.

Our scope of review on an appeal from the granting of a motion for summary judgment was stated in Toth v. Philadelphia, 213 Pa.Super. 282, 285, 247 A.2d 629, 631 (1968). In that case, this Court said:

*563 It is well established that we can sustain a summary judgment only ‘if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.’ Pa.R.C.P. 1035(b); Michigan Bank v. Steensen, 211 Pa.Super. 405, 236 A.2d 565 (1967). The record must be examined in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Schachter v. Albert, 212 Pa.Super. 58, 239 A.2d 841 (1968). The court must accept as true all well-pleaded facts in the plaintiff’s pleadings, giving the plaintiff the benefit of all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. Id. Finally, a summary judgment should be granted only when the case is clear and free from doubt. Mallesky v. Stevens, 427 Pa. 352, 235 A.2d 154 (1967).

In light of the foregoing, we address the issues presented by appellant.

Appellant’s first contention is that the owners and West End Federal have established an agency relationship, with the owners as principals and West End Federal as agents. Appellant further maintains that the letter sent him by West End Federal outlining the method and conditions of payment was a contract sent him by the bank in its capacity as the agent of the owners. Appellant thus argues that he had a direct contractual relationship with the owners (principals), with West End Federal acting as the disclosed agent of the principals. He therefore concludes that the owners are liable to him for breach of contract.

Giving appellant the benefit of any reasonable inferences that can be drawn from his pleadings, we will assume there is merit to his claim that an agency relationship existed. Appellant, however, would still not be entitled to recover from appellees for the cost of materials delivered to the job. If the letter is in fact a contract, the terms of the contract are that disbursements would not be made until work was completed and West End Federal had in its possession a satisfactory inspection report. A complete *564 review of the record reveals no evidence that at the time of the dispute between the owners and Vorobyov either of these conditions precedent to payment to appellant had been met. Therefore, by the specific terms of the alleged contract, appellant is not entitled to payment.

Appellant next argues that because the owners sometimes required their own endorsements on the construction loan checks, in addition to those of appellant and Vorobyov, a contractual relationship was created between appellant and the owners making appellant a third party beneficiary either of the contract between the owners and West End Federal or of the contract between the owners and Vorobyov.

Our Supreme Court, in the case of Guy v. Liederbach, 501 Pa. 47, 459 A.2d 744 (1983), adopted the Restatement (Second) of Contracts, § 302 (1979) as the guide for determining third party beneficiary status in Pennsylvania.

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498 A.2d 966, 345 Pa. Super. 559, 1985 Pa. Super. LEXIS 8694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meyers-plumbing-heating-supply-co-v-west-end-federal-savings-loan-pa-1985.