McCullough v. Baker
| Decision Date | 31 March 1871 |
| Citation | 47 Mo. 401 |
| Parties | PATRICK MCCULLOUGH, Respondent, v. L. D. BAKER et al., Appellants. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court.
Cline, Jamison & Day, and Lackland, Martin & Lackland, for appellants, cited in argument Shannon v. Comstock, 21 Wend. 457; Heckscher v. McCrea, 24 Wend. 304-9; Clark v. Marsiglia, 1 Denio, 317; Wilson v. Martin, id. 602; Spencer v. Halstead, id. 606; Boardman, Adm'r, v. Keeler, 21 Verm. 78, 84.
Bakewell & Farish, for respondent.
The plaintiff contracted with the defendant to do the masonry work of a church edifice for the sum of $6,000. He entered upon the execution of the contract, but never completed it. He avers that he was prevented from doing so by the unwarranted acts and defaults of the defendants. This averment is traversed by the answer, and the issue thus raised has been investigated by three different juries, the trial in each instance resulting in a verdict for the plaintiff. At the last trial, the court, at the instance of the plaintiff, gave the following instruction: “If the jury believe from the evidence that the plaintiff performed extra work on the church in question for the defendants, and at their instance and request; and that on the 8th of December, 1866, over and above the amount then paid the plaintiff and the amount then due mechanics for work on said church, there was anything yet due and unpaid the plaintiff, and yet, nevertheless, the defendants required a bond of plaintiff to go on and complete the work at the contract price, without any allowance for such extra work, and refused to pay him money, they will find that the defendants broke their contract with the plaintiff.”
This instruction is objected to as misdirecting the jury as to the sums to be credited to the defendants, and as assuming an erroneous construction of the contract. The evidence shows that the defendants were entitled to $977.82 credit for money paid in discharge of mechanics' liens. A small portion of the sum thus paid was on account of liens to parties other than mechanics. The instruction was carelessly drawn, and refers to sums due mechanics, instead of the sums due on mechanics' liens. What was meant was sufficiently apparent, and there is no pretense that the jury excluded any part of the $977.82. The whole amount of credits claimed by the defendants, on account of these liens and for payments directly to the plaintiff, was $5,191.82. There was no controversy about the aggregate amount of payments, and the jury, by a subsequent instruction, were directed, in effect, to allow the whole amount claimed. They were told that, unless the plaintiff's claim exceeded the sum of $5,191.82, they should find for the defendants.
As for the construction placed upon the contract, it provided that the work should be paid for as it progressed, and the provision must have a fair...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- Sinclair v. State
-
Johnston v. Star Bucket Pump Co.
...value of the work done and materials furnished, and he is not in such case restricted to a pro rata share of the contract price. McCullough v. Baser, 47 Mo. 401; Mitchell v. Scott et al., 41 Mich. 108 ; Fitzgerald v. Allen et al., 128 Mass. With a preciseness characteristic of the man, Romb......
-
Johnston v. Star Bucket Pump Company
...involved therein, but I did collate the authorities stating what I deem the rule. In that case I said: "Thus in McCullough v. Baker et al., 47 Mo. 401 at 402, it is 'The suit is not founded upon the contract. The plaintiff waives that and sues upon the quantum meruit. If he is entitled to r......
-
Taylor v. Von Schroeder
... ... purpose of maintaining an action on the contract. Park v ... Kitchen, 1 Mo.App. 358; McGullough v. Baker, 47 ... Mo. 401; Ehrlich v. Ins. Co., 88 Mo. 257. (8) A ... judgment reversed with the usual mandate becomes mere waste ... paper; neither ... ...