Sylvester v. Webb

• Citation: 60 N.E. 495,179 Mass. 236
• Parties: SYLVESTER et al. v. WEBB et al.
• Decision Date: 03 June 1901
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

179 Mass. 236
60 N.E. 495

SYLVESTER et al.
v.
WEBB et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Plymouth.

June 3, 1901.

Report from superior court, Plymouth county; K. Braley, Judge.

Action by one Sylvester and others against one Webb and others. A decree dismissing the bill was reported to the supreme court. Affirmed.

Robert [179 Mass. 237]O. Harris, for plaintiff Thos. F. Bailey.

Harvey H. Pratt, for defendants Webb and others.

BARKER, J.

It appears from the report that the building of a new school house was determined upon in the town of Scituate, and at a special town meeting held on June 2, 1900, a building committee was raised, consisting of the three selectmen, the [179 Mass. 238]three members of the school committee, and three other persons,-nine in all. A Mrs. Jenkins, of Boston, had proposed to make a gift to the town of the lot on which the school house was to be built, and she afterwards added a gift of the sum of $5,000 towards the cost of the building. The building committee advertised for proposals, which were opened on October 15, 1900. One of the selectmen, and so a member of the building committee, the defendant Thomas F. Bailey, was also a carpenter and builder, pursuing that business under the firm name of Bailey & Son, in partnership with George Bailey, his son. There were five bids, the lowest of which was by the plaintiff Sylvester, and the next higher was by Bailey & Son; the price offered by Sylvester being the lower by the sum of $123. By votes of five to four, Thomas F. Bailey being one of the five, the building committee voted not to accept the proposal of the lowest bidder, and to award the contract to Bailey & Son, and authorized their chairman to sign the agreement for the committee. A contract was so signed on the next day by the defendant Webb, chairman, in behalf of the committee, and by Thomas F. Bailey for Bailey & Son. The offer of Mrs. Jenkins to give the $5,000 seems to have been made in an interview between her and the chairman, Webb, in which he submitted the bids to her. Webb testified that he voted to give the contract to Bailey & Son because he understood Mrs. Jenkins to wish them to have the contract. The committee awarded the contract on October 29, 1900. At the special town meeting of June 2d the town had passed a vote authorizing its treasurer to borrow a sum not to exceed $14,000 for the erection of the school house. Bailey & Son's bid was $16,466, and did not include the apparatus for heat and ventilation, the bids for which...