102 Wash. 59 | Wash. | 1918
This is an action upon a bond, executed by the defendant Maryland Casualty Company, as. surety, and Beers Building Company, as contractor and principal, as provided by Rem. Code, §§ 1159-1161, relating to bonds of contractors to secure laborers, mechanics, subcontractors and materialmen furnishing labor and material for the carrying on of public work. Trial in the superior court for King county sitting without a jury resulted in findings and judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Crane Company, and against the defendant casualty company in the sum of $2,190.99, and a judgment in favor of the defendants Musgrave and Blake, upon their cross-complaint against the defendant casualty company, in the sum of $130.62. Prom this disposition of the cause, the casualty company has appealed to this court.
On October 7, 1915, the state of Washington, by its board of control, entered into a contract with Beers Building Company by which that company agreed to furnish the labor and material for, and to construct, the plumbing and heating system of the administration building of the State Institute for the Blind, at Vancouver, according to plans and specifications prepared therefor and by reference made a part of the contract. The specifications so made part of the contract contained, among other provisions, the following: '
*61 “The contractor shall not assign this contract nor sublet any portion thereof without the written consent of the board of control and the bonding company. ’ ’
Beers Building Company was to receive as compensation for the work the sum of $7,260, payable in monthly installments as the work progressed, on the basis of 85 per cent of the value thereof, the balance to be paid in thirty days following the completion of the work. On October 13, 1915, the bond here sued upon was executed by Beers Building Company, as principal, and the defendant Maryland Casualty Company, as surety, in the sum of $7,260. It contained recitals and conditions as the law required as follows:
‘ ‘ This bond is executed in pursuance of sections 1159 and 1161 of 'Remington and Ballinger’s Annotated. Codes and Statutes of the state of Washington, as amended by chapter 28 of the Session Laws of 1915, and is subject to all of the provisions thereof, and is entered into with the state of Washington, for the use and benefit of all laborers, mechanics, subcontractors and materialmen and all persons who shall supply such person or persons or subcontractors with provisions and supplies for the carrying on of the work covered by the contract entered into on the 7th day of October,. 1915, between the above bounden principal, Beers Building Co., and the said state of Washington, for the plumbing and heating system of the administration building for the State Institution for the Blind at Vancouver, Washington, according to the terms and conditions of said contract.
. “And the conditions of this obligation are such that if the said principals shall faithfully perform all the provisions of said contract not in conflict with said chapter 28 of the Laws of 1915, and pay all laborers, mechanics, and subcontractors and materialmen, and all persons who shall supply such person or persons, or subcontractors with provisions and supplies for the carrying on of such work . . . then this obligation shall be null and void; otherwise to remain in full force and effect. ’ ’
It is contended in behalf of appellant casualty company that it is not liable upon its bond to either Mus-grave and Blake or Crane Company, because neither it nor the state consented in writing or otherwise to the making of the subcontract between Musgrave and Blake and Beers Building Company. Many authorities are cited and reviewed by counsel to support the proposition that the stipulation in the contract between. Beers Building Company and the state that it should
There was no effectual assignment or subletting of the original contract in this sense, because the subcontract was not consented to by either the state or the
Contention is made in behalf of appellant casualty company that there was no privity of contract between Crane Company and Beers Building Company render
“In view of the declared purpose of the statute, in the light of which this bond must be read, and considering that the act declares in terms the purpose to protect those who have furnished labor or material in the prosecution of the work, we think it would be giving too narrow a construction to its terms to limit its benefits to those only who supply such labor or materials directly to the contractor. The obligation is ‘to make full payments to all persons supplying it with labor or materials in the prosecution of the work provided for in said contract. ’ This language, read in the light of the statute, looks to the protection of those who supply the labor or materials provided for in the contract, and not to the particular contract or engagement under which the labor or materials were supplied. If the contractor sees fit to let the work to a subcontractor, who employs labor and buys materials which are used to carry out and fulfill the engagement of the original contract to construct a public building, he is thereby supplied with the materials and labor for the fulfillment of his engagement as effectually as he would have been had he directly hired the labor or bought the materials. ’ ’
Our statute not only in express terms secures subcontractors, but in equally express terms it secures those who furnish “subcontractors with provisions and supplies for the carrying on of such work.” We do not have to go even to the extent the supreme court of the United States did in the Hill case in order to hold the casualty company liable to Crane Company in this case.
Contentions are made by counsel for appellant casualty company against the judgment, rendered in favor of Musgrave and Blake. It seems to us that these contentions present only questions of fact, that is, as to the amount due Musgrave and Blake and as to their being in default upon their’ subcontract. We
Both judgments are affirmed.
Ellis, C. J., Fullerton, Webster, and Main, JJ., concur.