Hutson v. Chambless

• Decision Date: 03 April 1957
• Docket Number: No. A-6155,A-6155
• Citation: 157 Tex. 193,300 S.W.2d 943
• Parties: W. M. HUTSON, Petitioner, v. Skeet CHAMBLESS, Respondent.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 943

300 S.W.2d 943

157 Tex. 193

W. M. HUTSON, Petitioner, v. Skeet CHAMBLESS, Respondent.

No. A-6155.

Supreme Court of Texas.

April 3, 1957.

Rehearing Denied May 8, 1957.

C. C. Renfro, Dallas, for petitioner.

Harold McCracken, Dallas, for respondent.

HICKMAN, Chief Justice.

Our study of the involved record in this case has convinced us that one question of law is decisive of the character of judgment which should be rendered here, and our statement will be limited to the essential facts relevant to that question. That decisive question is the proper rule for measuring the damages for the breach of a contract to construct a house.

Hutson, a building contractor, entered into a contract with Chambless for the construction of a house according to certain plans and specifications. The contract price was $16,750, for which Chambless executed his note to Hutson. Later, the parties agreed that Chambless would paint the house and $900 was deducted from the contract price on that account. After he had made two payments on the note, Chambless sued Hutson for damages for breach of contract, alleging that he did not build the house according to FHA requirements as specified in the contract; that he failed to construct the house in a workmanlike manner; and that he deviated from the plans and specifications. Hutson by cross-action sued for the balance due on the note, with foreclosure of the lien securing the same, and for certain extras. In the trial court judgment was rendered for Hutson on the note and for certain extras, but judgment was rendered in favor of Chambless for damages in the sum of $6,000, which amount was offset against Hutson's recovery. The trial court's judgment was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals, 295 S.W.2d 723.

Chambless alleged twenty separate and distinct particulars in which Hutson breached his contract. Some of these were in defective workmanship and others in deviations from the specifications. The defects in workmanship and deviations are not classified as such, but are commingled in the allegations of the petition. Adding the sums alleged to be required to remedy the various defects and deviations, including $100 for clearing the lot of debris, the result was $9,015, for which Chambless sued. As we construe the petition, the damages alleged for defective workmanship amount of but a few hundred dollars. Most of the damages claimed resulted from alleged deviations from the specifications or the furnishing of inferior material. In answer to special issues the jury found that the defects in workmanship could be remedied without impairing the building as a whole at the reasonable cost of $6,000. It next found that the reasonable market value of the building in its then condition was $9,650, and that its reasonable cash market value, if constructed according to the contract, would have been $16,750, the difference between the two values being $7,100. The jury then found that Hutson deviated from the terms of the contract; that some deviations, not specified, were with the consent of Chambless, and others, also not specified, were not with his consent; and that the reasonable cost of remedying the deviations not consented to would be $6,000. As noted above, Chambless alleged that all defects in workmanship and deviations could be remedied for $9,015. The jury found that it would require $6,000 to remedy the defects and $6,000 to remedy the deviations, making a total of $12,000. The court rendered judgment for $6,000 for the damages sustained by Chambless. Whether the damages were for remedying defects in workmanship or for remedying deviations does not appear in the record. This much is clear: Judgment was not rendered for the difference in value between the building as constructed and its value had it been constructed according to contract, which the jury found to be $7,100.

Various objections were urged below and are brought forward here to the manner of submission of the special issues relating to the cost of remedying the defects and deviations, but under our view of the controlling question presented by the record we find it unnecessary to consider them. This for the reason that they should not have been submitted at all. It is our view that, assuming that Hutson breached the contract as alleged, and as found by the jury, the correct measure of damages suffered by Chambless is the difference in value, if any, between the house as constructed and its value had it been constructed according to contract. As noted above, the jury found in answer to special issues that the defects in workmanship in the building could be remedied without impairing the building as a whole, but there was not a like finding as to deviations. The question of whether the deviations could be remedied without impairing the physical structure of the building was not submitted to the jury.

Hutson objected to the submission of Special Issues Nos. 1, 2 and 3, in answer to which the jury found that the defects in workmanship could be remedied without impairing the building as a whole at a reasonable cost of $6,000. One objection thereto was that they submitted an incorrect measure of damages; that the correct measure of damages would be the difference, if any, in value of the building as constructed and its value had it been constructed according to contract. He does not bring that question here in that precise form, but his first point is that it was error to submit the case on three theories. Under that point it is argued that the charge should have submitted special issues on only one theory of recovery, namely, the difference in value, if any, between the building as constructed and its value had it been constructed according to contract. We have concluded that the point and the argument thereunder ...