W. S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Co. v. Snyder

23 P.2d 592, 138 Kan. 146, 1933 Kan. LEXIS 164
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJuly 8, 1933
DocketNo. 31,262
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 23 P.2d 592 (W. S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Co. v. Snyder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
W. S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Co. v. Snyder, 23 P.2d 592, 138 Kan. 146, 1933 Kan. LEXIS 164 (kan 1933).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Smith, J.:

This was an action by a materialman on a public contractor’s bond. Judgment was for plaintiff. Defendant appeals.

The contractor entered into a contract December 13,1930, to build certain sewers. This job was No. 59. The date of the contract was October 13, 1930. He gave the bond under R. S. 60-1413, and entered into a contract with plaintiff for certain materials. The materials were shipped, and Snyder agreed to pay $2,100.22 for [147]*147them. He paid $1,000 but did not pay the balance. This suit was started June 25, 1931, against the surety company to collect the balance. At the trial of the case evidence disclosed that Snyder had entered into another contract with the city under date of October 27, or about fifteen days later than the date of the contract above mentioned, for the construction of certain other sewers, which job was described as job No. 63. A bond was given under date of November 3, 1930, for the completion of this contract. The evidence also disclosed that two items for which suit was brought on June 25, 1931, were not used on job No. 59, but were used on job No. 63. When this fact was disclosed by the evidence it became apparent that plaintiff could not recover for those two items in a suit based on the bond given to secure the performance of job No. 59. On this account plaintiff asked and was given permission to amend its petition to set out the execution of the contract for job No. 63, the giving of the bond thereunder and the default. The making of this amendment to the petition occurred more than six months after the completion of the contract. Defendant raised, by proper motion, and urges here that the third count, which set out the facts with reference to job No. 63, was a new cause of action and barred by the statute of limitations with reference to suits against bonding companies. The part of R. S. 60-1414 upon which defendant relies is as follows:

“Provided, That no action shall be brought on said bond after six months from the completion of said public improvements or public buildings.”

Appellee urges that the evidence showed that the two contracts were for the same general purpose; that is, the building of sewers, and between the same parties, and that the making of this amendment was within the discretion of the court.

It will be seen that the amendment was an attempt to state a cause of action growing out of a different contract for a different job and on a different bond than that upon which the original suit was based. There was no liability whatever upon the defendant except that growing out of the bond. In order to enforce liability on this bond it was necessary that suit should be brought within six months of the completion of the job. This was not done with reference to job No. 63. No suit was filed on that bond until much more time than that had elapsed. Now if the suit on the bond that was given with reference to job No. 59 had not been filed, no one would argue that the suit on the bond given with reference to job [148]*148No. 63 had been filed in time. The question is, then, Does the fact that there was an action pending between the parties in connection with the same sort of work, but based on an altogether different-contract than that pleaded in an amendment of the petition in the pending action, bring such amendment within the time limit by reason of the original petition having been filed in time? The latest discussion of this subject is in Burger v. First Nat’l Bank, 124 Kan. 23, 254 Pac. 979. In that case the syllabus is as follows:

“When the petition, in stating a cause of action, sets forth a contract and its violation, an amendment to the petition which sets forth as a basis for the cause of action a new and different contract than that relied on in the original petition should not ordinarily be permitted to be filed, and if filed, it must be treated as though a new action was then filed on the cause of action therein stated.”

The opinion contains a discussion of other cases of this court.

In Railroad Co. v. Sweet, 78 Kan. 243, 96 Pac. 657, this court held:

“Amendments which only amplify or make more specific the averments of the original petition, or which state the wrong suffered or right relied on, are ordinarily permissible and will relate back to the beginning of the action; but where the amendment sets forth a new and different cause of action the statute of limitations continues to run until the amendment is filed.” (Syl. ¶ 1.)

And the application of the rule, as there stated, is as follows:

“In an action to recover damages for the negligent setting out of a fire which destroyed the plaintiff’s trees the original petition alleged that the fire was negligently set out at a certain time and place, and after the period of limitation had expired the plaintiff obtained leave to amend his petition so as to aver that the damage resulted from another and different fire, which was started five miles distant from the one relied on in the original petition. Held, that the amendment set out a distinct and different tort and a new cause of action, upon which a recovery was barred by the statute of limitations.” (Syl. ¶ 2.)

Other cases which have decided this question to the same effect are Taylor v. Swift & Co., 114 Kan. 431, 219 Pac. 516, and Beneke v. Bankers Mortgage Co., 119 Kan. 105, 237 Pac. 932.

The third cause of action was an attempt to amend a petition that stated a cause of action as to certain items, to state a new cause of action as to these items under an entirely different contract and after limitations had run on the cause stated in the amendment. To permit this would be to nullify the statute of limitations. In line with the authorities quoted and cited we have concluded that this cannot be done.

[149]*149The second cause of action was dismissed.

This leaves the first cause of action for our consideration. This count was based on the bond given to secure performance of job No. 59. The evidence disclosed that the city inspected the job and accepted it December 12, 1930. If this was the date of the completion of the contract, then this suit was brought too late and would be barred because it would have to be brought before June 12 in order to be within six months after the completion of the job. However, there was evidence that along about the 5th or 6th of January, 1931, the contractor did some work by way of a coat of plaster on a flush tank. If that is the date when the contract was completed, then the suit was brought in time.

The jury answered special questions as follows:

“1. Was the work done in the alley between 8th street and Otis avenue between January 3 and January 6, 1931, a part of the original contract, designated job No. 59? A. Yes.
“2. Was the work mentioned in the preceding question done by the defendant, Snyder, in good faith to comply with his contract with the city of Salina? A. Yes.
“3. Was it necessary that the work mentioned in the preceding question be done in order to complete the job according to the terms of the contract between Snyder and the city of Salina? A. Yes.
“4. On what date was the work completed by Snyder under the contract mentioned in the first count of the petition? A.

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Bluebook (online)
23 P.2d 592, 138 Kan. 146, 1933 Kan. LEXIS 164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/w-s-dickey-clay-manufacturing-co-v-snyder-kan-1933.