Moselage v. Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks

78 So. 947, 118 Miss. 5
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 15, 1918
StatusPublished

This text of 78 So. 947 (Moselage v. Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moselage v. Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, 78 So. 947, 118 Miss. 5 (Mich. 1918).

Opinion

Stevens, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

Appellant, a contractor and builder, was plaintiff in the court below, and Clarksdale Lodge No. 977, Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, was defendant. Plaintiff sued to recover a balance of one thousand, two hundred fifty-one dollars claimed to be due under a contract executed by the defendant lodge, by the terms of which appellant was “to provide all materials and perform all the work for the restoration of the Elks ’ Home at Clarksdale, which was recently damaged by fire, changing the windows in lodge room from casement to windows hung on weights. All work to be done as it was in original building, and under the direction and to the satisfaction of B. C. Alsup of the firm of Alsup & Smith, architects, as shown on the drawings and described in the specifications prepared by-, architect, which drawings and specifications are identified by the signatures of the parties hereto and become hereby a part of this contract. ’ ’ The contract was upon a printed form containing twelve articles of agreement, and that portion of the language above quoted, referring to the drawings and specifications as a part of the contract, appeared in print on the original agreement, while the material portion obligating appellant to restore the damaged building, with the one exception of changing the windows from casement to windows hung with weights, and requiring him to do the work under the direction and to the satisfaction of Mr. Alsup, the architect, was typewritten. Article 2 is in printed language, and reads:

“Art. II. It is understood and agreed by and between the parties hereto that the work included in this contract is to be done under the direction of the. said [10]*10architect, and that his decision as to the true construction and meaning of the drawings and specifications shall he final. It is also understood and agreed by and between the parties hereto that such additional drawings and explanations as may be necessary to detail and illustrate the work to be done are to be furnished by said architect, and they agree to conform to and abide by the same so far as they may be consistent with the purpose and intent of the original drawings and specifications referred to In art. I.

“It is further understood and agreed by the parties hereto that any and all drawings and specifications prepared for the purposes of this contract by the said architect are and remain his property, and that all charges for the use of the same, and for the services of said architect, are to be paid by the said owner.”

Near the conclusion of the contract is the following’ typewritten provision:

“It is further understood and agreed that B. C. Alsup shall be the sole arbiter of what work shall be new and what shall be repaired.”

The sum agreed to be paid to the contractor was five-thousand, two hundred fifty-one dollars, and the declaration charges that the work has been completed, that the plaintiff has been paid the total sum of four thousand dollars, that the balance due is one thousand, two hundred fifty-one dollars, and that for this sum a certificate has been given appellant by the architect. The written certificate is attached to the declaration as “Exhibit B.” The original was introduced by plaintiff on the trial of the cause, and the material portion of the certificate reads:

“Certificate No. 1630. Alsup•& Smith, Architects. Memphis, Tenn., May 15, 1912.' $1,251.00 To Clarksdale Lodge, No. 977, B. P. 0. Elks: J. H. Moselage, contractor for repairing of fire damage to lodge build[11]*11ing, entitled to a payment of twelve hundred and fifty-one dollars.

Amount of contract ......................$5,251.00

Amt. previous paid ............$4,000.00

Amt. of this certificate .......... 1,251.00

Total to date ..............$5,251.00 $5,251.00

Alsup & Smith,

“Per B. C. Alsup.”

The defendant lodge refused to pay the balance, and to the declaration exhibited against it interposed a plea:

“That it did not undertake and promise to pay, and is not indebted to the plaintiff as charged by the plaintiff in his declaration.”

And attached to this plea of the general issue was a notice that the defendant expected to prove:

“That there were numerous and glaring defects in the work, in the material used and in the manner that the said work was done, and that said defects were so obvious and apparent as to indicate and prove that the certificate was obtained by fraud.”

In presenting this case to the court and jury, the plaintiff testified that he had performed the work and furnished the material in strict accordance with the written contract, a copy of which had been filed as “Exhibit A” to the declaration, but objection was made to the introduction of this contract, “because the paper calls for a drawing and specifications and details, and provides that they shall be made a part of the contract and are a part of the contract, . . . and it is not a complete paper,” and, secondly, the plans and specifications were not exhibited with and made an exhibit to the declaration, and “the most controlling part of the contract is not with the paper nor with the declaration, and the paper is meaningless without the drawings, specifications and details called for by it, [12]*12and therefore the testimony is incompetent.” When objection was made to the introduction of the original contract, the plaintiff showed by the witness that there were no drawings and specifications, but that the writing as offered contained the full agreement between the parties. Nevertheless, the court sustained the objection to the contract, and the plaintiff was forced to rest his case. Upon motion, a peremptory instruction was then given in favor of the defendant, and from the judgment based thereon appellant appeals.

The record does show that counsel for the plaintiff, when objection was made to the introduction of the contract, asked permission of the court to amend the declaration; but when the court announced, upon the insistence of counsel for the defendant, that the case be continued in the event the amendment was allowed, the plaintiff withdrew his request to amend and stood upon his declaration as filed. The trial judge also sustained an objection to the introduction of the written certificate given plaintiff by the architect.

It was error to exclude the written contract and the written certificate given by the architect. In Womble v. Hickson, 91 Ark. 266, 121 S. W. 401, the building contract stipulated that the house was to be like the “Rowton house.” Objections were there made to the introduction of the contract because the specifications were not presented, and the objection was overruled and the contract admitted in evidence. In Hitchcock v. Galveston, Fed. Cas. No. 6,534 (3 Woods, 287), the circuit court, as reflected by paragraph 10 of the headnotes, held:

“Where the contract itself required the work tp be done according to the specifications on file, and none were on file, but the contract itself specified the materials, and there was a' common and well-known process of doing the work, held, that the contract was not void for uncertainty, and the contractors might proceed to [13]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Womble v. Hickson
121 S.W. 401 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1909)
Maxted v. Seymour
22 N.W. 219 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1885)
Hitchcock v. Galveston
12 F. Cas. 225 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Texas, 1878)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
78 So. 947, 118 Miss. 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moselage-v-benevolent-protective-order-of-elks-miss-1918.