Vilbig Bros., Inc. v. Leavell

319 S.W.2d 731, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 1681
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 16, 1958
DocketNo. 7058
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 319 S.W.2d 731 (Vilbig Bros., Inc. v. Leavell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vilbig Bros., Inc. v. Leavell, 319 S.W.2d 731, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 1681 (Tex. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

DAVIS, Justice.

The opinion heretofore handed down in this cause is withdrawn and the following is substituted therefor.

Appellee’s statement of the nature and the result of this suit is found to be correct and we adopt the same with minor changes and additions. It reads as follows :

“Appellee had the general contract for the erection of a water treatment plant at Wylie, Texas, which included the construction of some streets. It sublet three phases of the work to ap[732]*732pellant by three written subcontracts as follows:
“Subcontract 169-B for grading, excavation and earth work on a lump sum basis of $48,500.00;
“Subcontract 169-C for ready mixed concrete on a unit basis;
“Subcontract 169-F for paving, curb and gutters on a unit price basis.
“Appellant filed this' suit for the retained percentages under subcontracts 169-B and 169-F and for extras under said three subcontracts, as follows :
“Retainage under subcontractor 169-F $ 4,960.23
“Extra dirt work under subcontract 169-F 4,779.40
“Damages from faulty engineering 3,500.00'
“Deductions from contract 169-C 536.47
“Damages for fraud as to amount of dirt under subcontract 169-B 17,600.00
“Retainage under subcontract 169-B 4,971.70
“Reasonable attorneys’ fees 10,000.00
“Total $46,347.80
“Appellee tendered the retainages under subcontracts 169-B and 169-F, and asked that there be credited thereon the following items:
“Cost of correcting hump iri paving laid by appellant 381.69
“Cost of correcting subsidence in paving laid by appellant 2,076.69
“Total $2,458.38
“Reasonable attorneys’ fees for establishing above offsets.
“On a trial before the court without a jury, the trial court found:
“(a) That appellant was entitled to retainages of $4,971.70 under subcontract 169-B and $4,702.94 under subcontract 169-F, totaling $9,674.64.
“(b) That appellant was indebted to appellee in the sum of $381.69 for correcting a hump in the paving and $2,-076.69 for correcting a subsidence in the paving laid by appellant, totaling $2,458.38 expended by appellee to correct defects in appellant’s work, by which amounts said $9,674.64 total re-tainages should be reduced, leaving a net balance from appellee of $7,216.-26.
“(c) That appellant is entitled to $500.00 attorney’s fee, in addition to said sum of $7,216.26 so that appellant is entitled to judgment against appellee for $7,716.26.
“(d) Appellee’s claim for the reasonable attorney’s fee provided in said contracts for enforcing the provisions thereof, and appellant’s claims for additional grading, faulty engineering, deductions from ready mixed concrete (under) contract 169-C and fraud in reference to the quantity of earth to be removed under subcontract 169-B should be rejected.”

The trial court accordingly entered judgment in favor of appellant against appel-lee for the sum of $7,716.26, together with interest thereon from the date of said judgment at the rate of 6% per annum and all costs of suit.

Each party excepted to the respective portions of said judgment adverse to it, and appellant perfected this appeal.

[733]*733Appellant brings forward three points of error in which it complains of the action of the trial court in allowing the cost’ of correcting the hump, cost of correcting subsidence in paving, denial of extra dirt work under contract 169-F, and denial of damages for fraud under subcontract 169— B, and contends that the evidence will not support such judgment.

Appellee challenges each point and brings forward four counter-points with respect to each of the items.

We have carefully examined the record in this case including the contracts and the statement of facts, and find that appellant’s points are in part well taken and must be sustained.

It appears from the record that any error of construction was the direct result of defective engineering. We find this to be a fact as established by the evidence in the case. To demonstrate our finding, we point out that the contract itself provided that appellee would furnish all the engineering services, which included fixing the grades for the paving and testing the compaction of the soil for density in the streets as well as all other engineering services, including back-fills to be made by appellant.

Appellant had two contracts in connection with the paving. One was for rough grading to within ¾0 of one foot of the finished job. Under the other contract it was to do the fine grading and paving the street. It finished the rough grading and the job was certified as being 100% completed and was paid in full, except a 10% retainage which appellee contends it was entitled to withhold until such time as the general contract had been completed and it had collected in full from the city and appellant has furnished appellee with affidavits showing that all bills had been paid by appellant in connection with said subcontract; this retainage was not for alleged discrepancies. Appellant completed the rough grading for the street about the 1st of March, 1956, and the street was used by other contractors in laying water lines which crossed the street in at least five different places. After the street was paved, an unusual rain fell in the area, and we quote the testimony of one of appellee’s engineers on this question:

“I think the fact that a roof downspout in that area greatly affected it, because it introduced water into the area after it had been complete. It introduced, more than the maximum amount required to get maximum density. That’s why you get stuck in the rut because you have more than your maximum amount of water.”

This was on the question of the subsidence of the paving.

When appellant went to do the fine grading under its paving contract, it was found that the street was four feet too high for a distance of about 200 to 300 feet on one end, and was as much as 15 to 18 inches low in other places. The only reasonable conclusion that could be reached as to-what caused these discrepancies would be faulty engineering. Appellee’s witnesses admitted that appellant did everything its engineers instructed appellant to do, not only from the standpoint of grading to specific levels as set by the engineers, but also packed the soil to the density required by the contract. There is some evidence of differences during the operations, but the record reveals that all differences were resolved before appellant completed its work on the respective contracts, and all work was finally accepted by the engineers for appellee. The only evidence that would indicate any defect in workmanship is based solely upon assumption. If the hump in the pavement was higher than the grade fixed by the engineer when the paving was completed, there is no evidence to establish that fact.

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Related

Rayner v. R. J. Jones & Sons
182 So. 2d 353 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1965)
C. H. Leavell & Co. v. Vilbig Bros.
335 S.W.2d 211 (Texas Supreme Court, 1960)
CH Leavell & Co. v. Vilbig Bros., Inc.
335 S.W.2d 211 (Texas Supreme Court, 1960)

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Bluebook (online)
319 S.W.2d 731, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 1681, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vilbig-bros-inc-v-leavell-texapp-1958.