Edwin Mankin v. United States For the Use and Benefit Ofcompany

• Decision Date: 17 January 1910
• Docket Number: No. 167,LUDOWICI-CELADON,167
• Parties: EDWIN T. MANKIN and Henry M. Magie, Copartners, Doing Business under the Firm Name of Mankin Construction Company, et al., Plffs. in Err., v. UNITED STATES FOR THE USE AND BENEFIT OFCOMPANY, J. L. Mott Iron Works, and the N. O. Nelson Manufacturing Company
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

215 U.S. 533

30 S.Ct. 174

54 L.Ed. 315

EDWIN T. MANKIN and Henry M. Magie, Copartners, Doing Business under the Firm Name of Mankin Construction Company, et al., Plffs. in Err.,

v UNITED STATES FOR THE USE AND BENEFIT OF LUDOWICI-CELADON COMPANY, J. L. Mott Iron Works, and the N. O. Nelson Manufacturing Company.

No. 167.

Submitted January 7, 1910.

Decided January 17, 1910.

Messrs C. V. Meredith, T. C. Catchings, O. W. Catchings, and J. Jordan Leake for plaintiffs in error.

Messrs C. H. Alexander, W. C. Bowman, Richard F. Reed, and Gerard Brandon for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a writ of error to the circuit court of appeals for the fifth circuit, wherein a judgment of the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of Mississippi in favor of the defendants in error was affirmed. The facts are: The Mankin Construction Company on February 27, 1905, entered into a contract with the Secretary of the Treasury for the construction of a certain postoffice building in the city of Natchez, Mississippi, and gave bond under the act of February 24, 1905 (33 Stat. at L. 811, chap. 778, U. S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1909, p. 948), amending the act of August 13, 1894 (28 Stat. at L. 278, chap. 280, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 2523). This bond was conditioned that the Mankin Construction Company should 'promptly make payment to all persons supplying them labor or materials in the prosecution of the work contemplated by said contract.' Upon this bond the Title, Guaranty, & Trust Company of Scranton, Pennsylvania, was surety.

The Mankin Construction Company, on April 29, 1905, entered into a written contract with one W. E. Smythe, as subcontractor, by the terms of which Smythe agreed to furnish certain plumbing, gasfitting, sheetmetal, tile roofing, etc., to be used in the construction and erection of the postoffice building. The building was completed about July 12, 1906, was accepted by the government, and payment therefor was made to the Mankin Construction Company, in accordance with the terms of the contract.

The defendants in error, the Ludowici-Celadon Company, the Nelson Manufacturing Company, and the J. L. Mott Iron Works, respectively, sold and delivered to Smythe, the subcontractor, certain materials which he used in the construction of the postoffice building, as required by the original contract. Smythe failed to make full payment on account of such purchases, and no suit having been brought by the United States under the act of Congress (33 Stat. at L. 811, chap. 778, U. S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1909, p. 948) within six months, affidavit was made by the Ludowici-Celadon Company that it had supplied labor and material for the prosecution of the work of constructing the postoffice building; and it was furnished with a copy of the contract and bond, as required quired by the act, and thereupon instituted suit in the name of the United States in the United States circuit court for the southern district of Mississippi against the Mankin Construction Company and its surety.

The Nelson Manufacturing Company and the J. L. Mott Iron Works intervened in the action, and claimed the right also to recover on account of the materials furnished by them respectively. There was a judgment upon the bond in favor of the claimants. It also appears that the Mankin Construction Company had paid Smythe, the subcontractor, the amount due him under the contract, less $644.57, before receiving any notice from either of the claimants of their respective claims against Smythe. The judgment upon the bond was in favor of the United States for the use of the Ludowici-Celadon Company in the sum of $1,217.78, for the use of the Mott Iron Works in the sum of $709.97, for the use of the Nelson Manufacturing Company in the sum of $2,129.47. The amount due upon the accounts not being disputed, the court instructed the jury to find for the claimants.

Upon writ of error to the circuit court of appeals for the fifth circuit, that court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court upon the authority of United States ex rel. Hill v. American Surety Co. 200 U. S. 197, 50 L. ed. 437, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 168. In the Hill Case, this court held that one who furnished labor or materials in the carrying out of a contract for public works, although such materials were furnished to a subcontractor, to whom a part of the work had been let, could recover upon a bond given under the act of August 13, 1894 (28 Stat. at L. 278, chap. 280, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 2523). In the Hill Case it was held that, construing the bond in the light of the statute, and the purpose of Congress to provide security for payment for labor and material going into the construction of a public building, it was intended thereby...