Bryce Plumbing & Heating Co. v. American Surety Co.
| Decision Date | 14 October 1931 |
| Docket Number | 13256. |
| Citation | 160 S.E. 593,162 S.C. 239 |
| Parties | BRYCE PLUMBING & HEATING CO. v. AMERICAN SURETY CO. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from Common Pleas Circuit Court of Williamsburg County; C.J Ramage, Judge.
Action by the Bryce Plumbing & Heating Company against the American Surety Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.
Reversed and remanded.
Sam J Royall, of Florence, for appellant.
P. H Arrowsmith and Willcox & Hardee, all of Florence, for respondent.
For convenience the plaintiff, Bryce Plumbing & Heating Company will hereinafter be referred to as the Bryce Company; the American Surety Company as the Surety Company; and the J. M. Lawton Company as the Lawton Company.
The action is by the Bryce Company against the Surety Company for $2,257.31, alleged to be due to it by the Lawton Company, under a contract between the Bryce Company and the Lawton Company, by which the Bryce Company furnished to the Lawton Company, plumbing, heating plant, and wiring for a certain schoolhouse at Estill, S. C., amounting to $6,039.31, upon which the Bryce Company acknowledges payments to the amount of $3,782, leaving unpaid $2,257.31.
The Lawton Company was the contractor under contract with the trustees of the Estill school, for the construction and equipment of the schoolhouse, and the Surety Company was upon the bond of the Lawton Company for the faithful performance of the contract and satisfaction of all claims and demands incurred by Lawton Company in said construction and equipment.
The Lawton Company went into bankruptcy without having paid the said balance; hence this action therefor against the Surety Company.
The Surety Company raises no objection to its liability upon the bond, but denies that the Bryce Company is entitled to the full amount claimed, setting up as a defense the failure on the part of the Bryce Company to credit the Lawton Company with a payment of $2,000 made to it by the Lawton Company on June 30, 1926, upon the Estill contract, conceding its liability for the balance unpaid, $257.31, less an error of $16 in one of the credits, reducing its admitted liability to $241.31.
The case was tried before his honor, Judge Ramage, and a jury in February, 1929; motion by defendant for directed verdict was refused; the trial resulted in a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the full amount claimed. The defendant has appealed.
The controversy turns upon the validity of the Surety Company's claim that the account of the Lawton Company with plaintiff, involving the Estill contract, is entitled to a credit of $2,000 as of June 30, 1926, upon...
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