Salyers v. United States ex rel. Indiana Quarries Co.

257 F. 255, 168 C.C.A. 339, 1919 U.S. App. LEXIS 2189
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 19, 1919
DocketNo. 5038
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 257 F. 255 (Salyers v. United States ex rel. Indiana Quarries Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salyers v. United States ex rel. Indiana Quarries Co., 257 F. 255, 168 C.C.A. 339, 1919 U.S. App. LEXIS 2189 (8th Cir. 1919).

Opinion

BOOTH, District Judge.

Action at law by the United States of America against Isaac N. Salyers and National Surety Company, commenced May 19,-1913, for the use of Indiana Quarries Company, under Act of Congress of August 13, 1894 (28 Stat. 278, c. 280), as amended by Act of Rebruary 24, 1905 (33 Stat. 811, c., 778 [Comp. St. § 6923]), requiring bonds by contractors on public buildings for the payment of labor and material. (The Quarries Company will hereafter be referred to as plaintiff.)

After the action had been commenced on behalf of the plaintiff, several parties intervened, alleging the furnishing of labor and material. By written stipulation of the parties the action was tried, in June, 1917, to the court without a jury, and resulted in judgments in favor of the plaintiff and the interveners; claim of plaintiff being reduced, however, by certain counterclaims by defendant Salyers, the contractor.

By the present writ of error it is- sought to reverse the judgment in favor of plaintiff. Specifications of error relied upon are as follows:

Rirst. Error in permitting the plaintiff to amend its petition in November, 1916, and in receiving evidence under said amendment.

The building for which the material was furnished was completed May 21, 1912, and, as stated, the action was cofnmenced May 19, 1913, which was within the year provided by the statute. In its original petition plaintiff alleged that it had furnished certain stone to the contractors which had been used and not paid for; the value of the stone furnished was alleged to be $5,000, and the amount der manded was also $5,000. By the first amendment to the petition, filed June 20, 1916, plaintiff alleged that it had furnished to the con[257]*257tractor stone amounting to $3,495.71, and that there was a balance due thereon of $1,736.59, for which amount judgment was demanded.

[1] The second amendment (being the one of November, 1916, and the one complained of) separated the claim of the plaintiff into two parts, or counts. In one count it was alleged that stone had been furjiished by Perry-Mathews-Buskirk Stone Co. (hereinafter called the Perry Company) in the amount of $3,718.73, and that the claim of the Perry Company had been assigned to the plaintiff in November. 1910. In the second count it was alleged that stone was furnished to the contractor by the plaintiff in the amount of $606.62; and it was further alleged that there was due and owing upon both of said counts the sum of $1,736.59. Motion was made on behalf of the defendants to strike out the amendment of November, 1916, on the ground that it introduced a new cause of action. No ruling seems to have been preserved upon this motion. At the close of all the evidence, however, defendants moved to strike from the record and exclude from consideration that portion of plaintiff’s claim based on assignment from the Perry Company, on the ground that said assignment, set up in said amendment, introduced a new cause of action, and that at the time of the filing of said amendment (November, 1916) the year for filing claims as fixed by the federal statute had expired, and that the filing of said amendment could not relate back to the filing of the original petition.

The method adopted by defendant in preserving its rights was appropriate. The filing of the amendment did not cut off the defense. Railway v. Wyler, 158 U. S. 285, 295, 15 Sup. Ct. 877, 39 L. Ed. 983.

[2] The contention of the plaintiff is that the amendment of November, 1916, did not set up a new cause of action, but simply restated in two counts the cause of action originally set up; one of the counts being on behalf of the plaintiff as original furnisher of material, and the other on behalf of the plaintiff as assignee of the claim of the Perry Company.

The bond required by the statute above cited performs a double function: First, to secure to the government a faithful performance on the part of the contractor; secondly, to protect persons from whom the contractor obtáins labor and materials. U. S. v. Nat. Surety Co., 92 Fed. 549, 34 C. C. A. 526; U. S. v. Rundle, 100 Fed. 400, 40 C. C. A. 450. And the statute is to be liberally construed to effect the purposes within its scope. Ill. Surety Co. v. John Davis Co., 244 U. S. 376, 37 Sup. Ct. 614, 61 L. Ed. 1206; U. S. v. Lowrance, 252 Fed. 122, - C. C. A. -.

But, while the statute creates a new cause of action, it does so upon the terms named in the statute.

“The right of action given to creditors is specifically conditioned upon the fact that no suit shall he brought by the United States within the six months named, for it is only in that event that the creditors shall have a right of action and may bring a suit in the maimer provided. The statute thus creates a new liability and gives a special remedy for it, and upon well-settled principles the limitations upon such liability become a part of the right con[258]*258íerred and compliance with'them is made essential to the .assertion and benefit of the liability itself.” Texas Cement Co. v. McCord, 233 U. S. 157, 162, 34 Sup. Ct. 550, 552, 58 L. Ed. 893.

Among the limitations in the statute is that of 12 months for bringing suit or filing claims. Texas Cement Co. v. McCord, 233 U. S. 157, 34 Sup. Ct. 550, 58 L. Ed. 893; Ill. Surety Co. v. Peeler, 240 U. S. 214, 36 Sup. Ct. 321, 60 L. Ed. 609; U. S. v. Boomer, 183 Fed. 726; Baker Contract Co. v. U. S., 204 Fed. 390, 122 C. C. A. 560; Eberhart v. U. S., 204 Fed. 884, 123 C. C. A. 180. The claims of the various persons furnishing labor or material are assignable. Title Co. v. Crane Co., 219 U. S. 24, 31 Sup. Ct. 140, 55 L. Ed. 72; U. S. v. Rundle, 100 Fed. 400, 40 C. C. A. 450; Title Co. v. Puget Sound Works, 163 Fed. 168, 89 C. C. A. 618. And each claim is separate and represents a distinct cause of action. Title Co. v. Crane Co., 219 U. S. 24, 35, 31 Sup. Ct. 140, 55 L. Ed. 72; Ill. Co. v. Peeler, 240 U. S. 214, 225, 36 Sup. Ct. 321, 60 L. Ed. 609.

[3] The two claims of the plaintiff and of the Perry Company being originally distinct and representing distinct causes of action, it remains to be considered whether by the amendment to plaintiff’s petition of November, -1916, a new cause of action was introduced into the petition, or whether the cause of action represented by the Perry Company claim was already included in said petition. It has been noted that the amount demanded in the original petition was $5,000, and in the first amendment to the petition this amount was changed to $1,736.59, and that the amendment of November, 1916, retained this latter amount. The last amendment to the petition, therefore, did not change the amount demanded; but this is not determinative.

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Bluebook (online)
257 F. 255, 168 C.C.A. 339, 1919 U.S. App. LEXIS 2189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salyers-v-united-states-ex-rel-indiana-quarries-co-ca8-1919.