Decker v. School Dist. No. 2.

• Decision Date: 28 April 1903
• Citation: 74 S.W. 390,101 Mo. App. 115
• Parties: DECKER v. SCHOOL DIST. NO. 2.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

74 S.W. 390

101 Mo. App. 115.

DECKER v. SCHOOL DIST. NO. 2.

Court of Appeals at St. Louis, Missouri.

April 28, 1903.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS—CONTRACT FOR BUILDING SCHOOLHOUSE — FAILURE OF CONTRACTOR TO FULLY PERFORM—LIABILITY OF DISTRICT—RECOUPING DAMAGES—SETTLEMENT —BOARD MEETING—VALIDITY—MINUTES.

1. If a contractor furnishes material or performs labor under a contract to erect a building on the lands of another, which is used by and is of value to the property owner, the owner must pay the reasonable value of such material or labor, not to exceed the contract price, though the contractor has failed to fully perform his contract.

2. In a suit by a contractor, who has failed to fully perform his contract, to recover the value of the labor and material actually furnished, defendant may recoup his damages.

3. In order to recoup the damages for breach of contract, the contract and the damages must be specially pleaded by him.

4. A school district, sued by a contractor for the reasonable value of labor and material furnished by him for a schoolhouse, may waive its right to recoup the damages sustained by it by reason of the contractor's failure to fully perform his contract.

5. A settlement between the directors of a school district and a contractor, who has failed to fully perform his contract to build a schoolhouse, fixing the amount due the contractor for the labor and material actually furnished by him, is binding on the parties, unless set aside for fraud or mistake.

6. Where all the members of a school board meet at some place in the district, whether in obedience to notice or by accident, they may, if they choose, hold a board meeting and transact any ordinary business pertaining to the district; and this notwithstanding Rev. St. 1899, § 9761, requiring each member to have notice of the meeting.

7. A failure on the part of a school board to make and preserve minutes of their proceedings, as required by Rev. St. 1899, § 9761, will not affect the rights of a party with whom they have made a valid settlement at such meeting.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Douglas County; Geo. W. Thornberry, Judge.

Action by Philip Decker against School District No. 2. Judgment for defendant. Plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

Livingston & Buchanan, for appellant. Burkhead & Murray, for respondent.

BLAND, P. J.

Omitting caption and signatures, the pleadings in the cause are as follows:

The petition: "Plaintiff states that the defendant is a school district and corporation organized under the laws of the state of Missouri; that Byron Johnson, A. R. Colburn, and E. S. Moore constitute the legal board of directors of said school district: and that heretofore, to wit, on the fourteenth day of August, 1900, the plaintiff and defendant had an accounting, and thereupon it was found and agreed by and between the plaintiff and defendant that there was due and owing from the defendant to the plaintiff a balance of one hundred and nine dollars ($109) for number furnished by plaintiff to defendant, which said sum and balance the defendant then and there promised and agreed to pay to plaintiff, but the same has not been paid, nor any part thereof, except the sum of five dollars ($5) which was paid on the fourteenth day of August, 1900. Wherefore plaintiff prays judgment for the sum of one hundred and four dollars ($104), and interest thereon from the said fourteenth day of August, 1900, together with costs of suit."

The answer: "Comes now the defendant, and for answer to plaintiff's petition admits that it is a school district, duly organized under the laws of the state of Missouri, and further admits that Byron Johnson, A. R. Colburn, and E. S. Moore now constitute its legally qualified board of directors, but denies each and every other allegation in said petition."

The evidence is that the directors of the school district entered into a...