Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission v. Seaboard Surety Co.

164 F. Supp. 723, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3878
District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania·Decided September 3, 1958·No. Civ. A. Nos. 19974, 21794·Published

Opinion

EGAN, District Judge.

These two actions were consolidated for trial by jury. A joint motion for a new trial has been filed on behalf of the losing parties, i. e., Seaboard Surety [724]*724Company, in Civil Action No. 19974 and Wenger Brothers, Inc., in Civil Action No. 21794. The motion will be denied.

The cases are here by reason of diversity of citizenship of the parties. They grow out of the construction and completion of a portion of the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Howard Worthington (Worthington) was awarded the prime contract. He sub-contracted all the right of way excavation work to Wenger Brothers, Inc. (Wenger). Wenger, in turn, sub-contracted all the blasting and rock excavation on the job to the Perry Construction Company (Perry), of which Alex Fink and Nathan Fink are partners. Both sub-contractors are bonded and the appropriate surety company is named as defendant in each action.

In Civil Action No. 19974, Perry, as use-plaintiff, alleges that according to its sub-contract with Wenger, it was to be compensated on the basis of the. amount of cubic yards of rock drilled and blasted; that a certain amount of rock was drilled and blasted for which it has not been paid. Wenger, through its surety, Seaboard Surety Company (Seaboard), claims that Perry did not blast as much as it claims and that that which was blasted was not done in accordance with the terms of the contracts involved. This latter allegation gives rise to Civil Action No. 21794.

There, Wenger alleges that Perry’s failure to blast in accordance with the terms of the governing contract and Perry’s delays in prosecuting this work forced Wenger to hire and use extra equipment and men to complete the job. These additional expenses, Wenger claims, resulted in damage far in excess of the amount admittedly due Perry. As the cases went to the jury, the latter suit was treated as a counter-claim to the amount claimed by Perry in the earlier action.

After an extensive charge, the case was submitted to the jury, which later returned with a verdict in favor of Perry in the amount of $111,828.98 in Civil Action No. 19974. In Civil Action No. 21794, the jury disallowed the entire claim of Wenger, returning a verdict therein in favor of the defendants, United States Fidelity & Guarantee Company and Perry.

Trial counsel for Wenger and Seaboard were evidently satisfied with the Court’s charge to the jury because they took no exceptions and withdrew their points for charge which they had earlier submitted. However, the jury’s verdicts caused them to file the joint motion for a new trial which is now befox^e us.

While Wenger and Seaboard complain on several grounds, one of the most important is that the Court erred when it affirmed Perry’s point for charge number 5. During the course of trial, Wenger and Seaboard called the Perry foreman, Sanford Vanderveken and a DuPont powder salesman, C. Huber Blocher, for direct examination. Each witness testified favorably on direct, and unfavorably on cross. The Court charged:

“No. 5. I will affirm, and that reads as follows:
“Mr. Vanderveken and Mr. Bloch-er are witnesses for the defendant. The rule is that a party who produces a witness holds him out as worthy of belief, and is bound by his testimony even so far as it might be against him, and is, indeed, concluded by his testimony, unless it is contradicted by the testimony of other witnesses or the circumstances surrounding the case.
“I will affirm that in part as modified by my instructions.” (N.T. 768-769.)

Wenger and Seaboard now object to the charge on the ground that it created an improper inference. The arguments presented by them fall short of the Pennsylvania authorities cited, although the Court is in doubt as to whether State or Federal law is applicable in the first instance. However, in view of the fact that counsel failed to take exception to the charge at the time of trial, this question need not be passed upon at this time. [725]*725Rule 51 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure clearly states:

“ * * * No party may assign as error the giving or the failure to give an instruction unless he objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the matter to which he objects and the grounds of his objection.”1

This alone is dispositive of the question before the Court.

We next come to Wegner’s and Seaboard’s contention that the verdicts are contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. With this, we disagree. In considering this phase of the motion, we must remeber that where the evidence is conflicting, all the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party who holds the verdict. Schipfer v. Makowski, D.C.E.D.Pa.1957, 149 F.Supp. €59.

In their brief, Wenger and Seaboard stated their defense very simply: “The defense is that Perry did not blast as much as they claim, and that they failed to blast in accordance with their contract, * *

Let us first examine the charge that they failed to blast in accordance with their contract. Wenger and Seaboard have shifted their position on this point at various times.

There are no standards set up with respect to the size of the blasted rock to be recovered in either the prime contract with Worthington or in the written contract between Perry and Wenger. Wenger, in its claim asserting that the rock wasn’t blasted small enough, in conformity with its agreement with Perry, was forced to rely on a parol agreement made with one of the Fink brothers after the written contract was signed. On cross-examination, Mr. Alex Fink confirmed the fact that the rock was to be broken into sizes small enough to fit a 2y2 yard bucket of a power shovel. However, l?e testified that the rock was so broken.

In paragraph 7 (a) of the Wenger complaint, in Civil Action No. 21794, it is stated: “They did not break the blasted rock into such size that it would meet with the specifications of the Turnpike Commission in order that it could be used for fill.” They were forced to flee from this position when it became apparent that the specifications of the Turnpike Commission were silent on this point.

They then retreated to the position that it was Perry’s duty to blast the rock to a size not in excess of 18 inches in diameter so that it could be used for fill. This contention also collapsed when it was shown that the Turnpike specifications again were silent on this matter.

Wenger’s witness, William H. Sutcliffe, an employee of Wenger, produced certain pictures allegedly taken .on the job which purported to show broken rock too large to be handled by a 2% yard shovel. Wilmer Wenger later testified that he had not shown the pictures to Perry or anyone interested until the date of trial, some two years after they were taken. Whether they were taken on the job in question and whether they were taken before Perry did secondary blasting — and there was testimony that Perry did secondary blasting — were matters for the jury. Both Worthington and Robert L. Jamieson, the Turnpike engineer’, testified that Perry did their job in a workmanlike way. Perry’s foreman, Vanderveken, testified similarly.

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Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission v. Seaboard Surety Co., 164 F. Supp. 723, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3878 (E.D. Pa. 1958).

164 F. Supp. 723 (Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission v. Seaboard Surety Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.