Thayer v. Lawrence County

29 Pa. D. & C. 169, 1936 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 193
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lawrence County
DecidedDecember 7, 1936
Docketno. 30
StatusPublished

This text of 29 Pa. D. & C. 169 (Thayer v. Lawrence County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lawrence County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thayer v. Lawrence County, 29 Pa. D. & C. 169, 1936 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 193 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1936).

Opinion

Brownson, P. J., and Hughes, J.,

twenty-seventh judicial district, sitting under special assignment,

[171]*171The County Commissioners of Lawrence County, having adopted a resolution setting forth their opinion that a necessity existed for the erection of a new courthouse, jail and sheriff’s residence, and the acquisition of ground therefor, and their determination to build the same, subject to the approval of the court, employed plaintiffs to servé as architects in connection with this project, and entered into a written contract of employment with them, which contract was approved by the court of quarter sessions. Under this contract plaintiffs proceeded to do work and to render service until the summer of the year 1934. On August 24, 1934, they were notified by the commissioners not to do any more work. It is stated in an exhibit annexed to the statement of claim that they in fact did no work after July 19,1934, the date of an order, mentioned later herein, by which the judges refused to approve a site for the proposed buildings. They have brought this action to recover compensation for the work done by them, together with certain expenses, and also damages for not being permitted to complete the work they were employed to do. The case was partly tried in April 1935, but, plaintiffs having moved in the course of the trial for leave to amend the statement of claim, and this leave having been granted, defendant in effect pleaded surprise and asked for a continuance, and a continuance was ordered. On July 10,1935, an amended statement of claim was filed, and the case now comes before the court upon an affidavit of defense in lieu of demurrer, or, as it is commonly called, a statutory demurrer, to this amended statement of claim.

I

The motion to amend, which was made at the partial trial of the case, held on April 22 and 23, 1935, was for the purpose of bringing into the statement of claim averments of the facts which it would be necessary to have, as a part of the pleadings, in order to serve as the basis for a recovery on a quantum meruit, should the court finally [172]*172decide, in accordance with the views that had been expressed tentatively by the trial judge, that plaintiffs are not entitled to a verdict for the measure of damages claimed in the original statement of claim, but would be entitled to recover on a quantum meruit for preparing the plans which, under the statute, were required to be submitted for approval to the judges of the court of common pleas. The trial judge, on April 23d, granted leave to make such an amendment, the general nature of which was set forth on the stenographer’s trial record. Plaintiffs’ counsel then requested time to prepare, deliberately and in a careful manner, a formal amendment for filing, and suggested a continuance of the trial for this purpose; and defendant’s counsel, announcing that they were not prepared to defend against a claim such as the proposed amendment would bring into the case, moved for a continuance. The trial judge, in connection with the grant of the general continuance, previously mentioned, directed that plaintiffs file later a formal amendment such as that for which leave had been given. The amended statement of claim, filed on July 10,1935, is now objected to, in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the statutory demurrer, upon the grounds that it is not in accordance with the order of April 23rd and standing rule 195 of this court, in that it goes far beyond what was embraced in the leave granted, and that the filing of an amended statement having the form, nature and scope of this one has never been authorized and approved by the court. This objection seems to us to be the proper subject of a motion to strike off rather than a statutory demurrer. Indeed, the filing of a statutory demurrer embracing, as this one does, the subsequent paragraphs whereby an issue of law is raised, as to whether the averments of this amended statement exhibit a case entitling plaintiffs to recover anything, appears to us to be a recognition of this statement as constituting a part of the pleadings and as being properly of record. But, in any event, as we are disposed to give to plaintiffs a full opportunity to state their claim in the way in which they [173]*173desire to have it stated, we think that, if the leave to amend heretofore granted is not broad enough to cover everything embraced in the pleading filed on July 10, 1935, we may now broaden that leave nunc pro tunc. The court has power to ratify anything which it could have precedently authorized, and we now approve nunc pro tunc the filing of this amended statement of claim, and dismiss the objections thereto made in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the statutory demurrer.

II

Paragraphs 3, 4, 5, and 8 of the statutory demurrer all have relation to and are connected with the position, taken by defendant’s counsel, that the contract of employment by which the county commissioners engaged the services of plaintiffs was ultra vires and therefore is unenforcible. This position is grounded upon the claim that statutory provisions have made certain preliminary steps or proceedings conditions precedent of the authority of the commissioners to contract for the rendering of such services, and that the amended statement of claim does not aver that such necessary preliminary steps were taken.

Formerly, it was required, in order that the county commissioners might be authorized to erect buildings, that the project be approved by two grand juries and the court of quarter sessions: Act of April 15, 1834, P. L. 537; that any acquisition of ground therefor be approved by two grand juries, and that the specific purchases be approved by the judges of the court of common pleas: Act of June 1, 1883, P. L. 58, as amended by the Acts of June 19, 1911, P. L. 1039, and April 21, 1921, P. L. 271; and that approval of the plans and specifications for the buildings, and of construction contracts let thereon, be given by the judges of the common pleas: Act of April 19, 1895, P. L. 38. The regulations embodied in these statutes were superseded by The General County Law of May 2, 1929, P. L. 1278, which contains the following provisions relating to the subject now in hand:

[174]*174“When it appears to the county commissioners that the necessities of the county require ground, at the county seat, for the purpose of the erection or extension of such building or buildings as may be necessary for the accommodation of the courts, and of the several officers of the county, and for the reception and safe-keeping of the records and other papers in charge of such officers, and also ground at or near the county seat for the purpose of the erection or extension of such other building or buildings as may be necessary and proper for the purposes of a county jail or workhouse, or any or either of them, they may purchase ground for such purposes, and cause to be erected thereon the necessary buildings for which said ground was purchased, subject to the approval of the court of quarter sessions.” (Then follows a provision for the acquisition of the ground by condemnation, if necessary) : sec. 566.

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Bluebook (online)
29 Pa. D. & C. 169, 1936 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 193, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thayer-v-lawrence-county-pactcompllawren-1936.