Moran Bros. v. Snoqualmie Falls Power Co.

69 P. 759, 29 Wash. 292, 1902 Wash. LEXIS 586
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 29, 1902
DocketNo. 3805
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 69 P. 759 (Moran Bros. v. Snoqualmie Falls Power 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
Moran Bros. v. Snoqualmie Falls Power Co., 69 P. 759, 29 Wash. 292, 1902 Wash. LEXIS 586 (Wash. 1902).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Anders, J.

The respondent is, and during the year 1899 was, a corporation, and at said time was operating a foundry and machine shop in the city of Seattle, and was manufacturing and selling castings of iron and other metals, and dealing in manufacturers' supplies generally. At the time above mentioned the appellant was, and still is, a corporation having its principal place of business at Seattle, and was then installing and equipping a power plant a.t Snoquaimie halls, Washington, to be operated by water power, with a view to generating electric power for commercial purposes. In erecting its power plant as designed, it became necessary for appellant to have certain castings constituting a device or “system” for regulating the flow of water to its water wheels at its power plant. These castings consisted of certain “regulators,” each composed of a “regulator box,” “two leaves,” and certain other appliances in the interior thereof, and certain elbows and pipes, termed “connecting pieces” or “filling-in pieces,” one such elbow and connecting piece accompanying each regulator. The leaves were to be suspended from an iron bar or rod, and were intended to regulate the flow of water through and from the regulator box by opening and closing as required. The elbow was designed to rest on the top of the regulator box. It was rectangular at its base, and 'circular at the top, where it was connected with the filling (or receiving) pipe, and consisted of two pieces. Appellant had four separate water wheels, and contemplated putting in a regulator, elbow, and filling piece for each wheel. . Certain drawings or “sketches” for these castings were submitted by appellant to the respondent, and the [295]*295conditions which, they would he required to meet when in use were made known, and the respondent was requested to state a price for manufacturing the same. The respondent then made a proposal, by letter, to make one set of castings for a certain price if only one set should be ordered, or for another specified price in ease appellant should order as many as four sets. The appellant orally accepted the terms of the proposal, and, pursuant to the contract so made, at various times ordered sets of the castings to be furnished, — in all, four in number. It is in evidence, however, that prior to this proposal and acceptance, the respondent suggested a plan or design for the construction of the regulator boxes, and proposed to- guaranty them to-st and a working pressure of 125 ppunds to the square inch, and a cold water test pressure of 300 pounds to the square inch, if constructed in accordance therewith, but the appellant preferred to have the work done according to the design submitted by it to- respondent. Appellant first ordered one set (No. 1) of the castings to be made by respondent. When put in place and subjected to the pressure of the water, one side of the regulator box broke in the groove therein into which the end was fitted in putting the parts of the box together. A new casting was ordered to replace the broken part, and at the same time some changes were made in the interior parts constituting the device for regulating the flow of water through the regulator box. Subsequently regulator No-. 2 was ordered and furnished at the contract price, with charges for extra work. Further changes were made by appellant in the interior design of the boxes, and regulators Nos. 2 and 3 were ordered to- be made in accordance with the latest revised designs. Regulator box No. 2 also broke when in place and subjected to the pressure of the water under [296]*296working conditions at about the same place in the groove where Ho. 1 had broken. Both regulator Ho. 3 and the elbow designed for use in connection with it were broken under water tests made at appellant’s works and by its workmen before being set in place for use. Before regulator Ho. 4 was completed, work upon it was stopped by order of appellant, and it appears that no part thereof was delivered to or received by appellant. The appellant having declined to> make the payments as demanded for these castings., respondent brought this action to recover the balance which it claimed to be due from appellant on account thereof.

The complaint, after stating that the plaintiff and the defendant, respectively, were corporations, and specifying the business in which each was engaged, alleged “That between the first day of October, 1899, and the first day of February, 1900, the said plaintiff, at the special instance and request of the defendant, and upon its order, sold and delivered to. said defendant goods., wares, and merchandise and manufacturers’ supplies of the reasonable value of $12,203.13, and for which the said defendant promised and agreed to pay the plaintiff the sum of $12,-203.13, and also, at the special instance and request of defendant, advanced cash for freight and drayage charges on the same, necessary for the due delivery thereof, in the amount of $46.05, making a total of $12,249.18.” “4. That no part of said sum has been paid, except the sum of $5,749.10, and there is now due and owing from the de>fendant to the plaintiff thereon the sum of $6,500.08, with interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum from the first day of February, 1900.” Judgment was demanded for said last mentioned sum. In response to this complaint the defendant, appellant here, demanded, in writ[297]*297ing, a statement of the items of the alleged account, and that it be shown in such statement of the items of said account wdiich of said items have been charged at their reasonable value, irrespective of contract prices, and which of them, if any, are based upon a contract or contracts between said plaintiff and said defendant fixing the amounts to be charged. In compliance with this demand the plaintiff .served a statement of account, comprising over 200 separate items, in which it was stated: “To show the charges which were made under a specific contract, plaintiff has written the word 'contract,’ and all items other than those so designated were charged by the plaintiff to' the defendant for their reasonable value.” The only items designated in this ■statement of the items of account as charges at contract prices were “one regulator No. 2, as per drawings and proposal, $645, and one 4 ft. filling piece, as agreed, and •one 4 ft. elbow in two sections, $966.” Nearly all the remaining items of the account consisted of charges of the time of laborers in the various departments of respondent’s shops, at certain prices per hour, and charges for material — largely iron — used in castings, but some charges were made for other material at specified prices. On re■ceipt of this bill of particulars, the appellant moved that the respondent be required to make its complaint more definite and certain, by pleading separately on the contract items and on the other items of the account, but the court denied the motion. The appellant then answered, denying generally the allegations of the complaint concerning the indebtedness for goods, wares, and merchandise sold, but admitting that the respondent had made and delivered to the appellant regulator No. 2 and the accomp(anying parts, —the elbow and connecting piece, — and certain new parts •of regulator No. 1 to replace broken and defective parts, [298]*298and regulator No. 3, under an express contract by which the price of each regulator was fixed at $645, and the price' of each elbow and connecting piece at $966, and then affirmatively pleading the contract, and the breach of it by respondent, and that the castings furnished thereunder were defective, etc.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
69 P. 759, 29 Wash. 292, 1902 Wash. LEXIS 586, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moran-bros-v-snoqualmie-falls-power-co-wash-1902.