46 Neb. 644 | Neb. | 1896
The petition in this action stated that on the 29th day of June, 1889, Symonds & Blake were awarded and entered into a contract with the state to furnish materials for and perform certain labor upon and about the industrial home at Milford, and executed and delivered to the state a bond for the faithful and full performance of the contract, J. W. Foster and M. J. Kaufmann signing such bond as sureties; that the bond contained the following conditions: “The condition of the above obligation is such that the above bounden Symonds & Blake have been awarded the contract to furnish all the materials and labor and skill necessary to the purpose, and to erect, construct, and fully complete, in a good and workmanlike manner, for the use of the industrial home at Milford, Nebraska, the steam heating, gas fitting, plumbing, ventilation, sewerage, windmill, well, and three cisterns, all to be in strict conformity to tiie plans, specifications, and detailed drawings now on file in the office of the commissioner of public lands and buildings at Lincoln, Nebraska, and to pay off, in full, all claims that may become due for laborers’ and mechanics’ wages or for materials furnished in or about said contract. Now if the above bounden Symonds & Blake shall well and truly keep and perform each and every covenant, promise, and agreement contained in said contract at the several times, and in the manner therein stated, and fully pay all claims due for laborers, mechanics, or furnishers of materials, then this obligation to be void; otherwise to be and remain in full force and virtue in law.” Copies of the contract, the bond, and an itemized statement of the account for material which the party in whose favor the action was instituted claimed to have furnished, were attached to the pleading. To the action there was but one appearance on the part of the defendants, that of Kaufmann, one- of the sureties on the bond. In his answer he denied that the
We will first notice the portion of the contention on behalf of the surety Kaufmann, in which it is asserted that he
It is urged that the bond, in the particular condition which was made the basis of this action, was illegally required and exacted, was without warrant or authority of law; that inasmuch as the statutes governing the subject involved directed that a bond be taken, and prescribed a number of particulars to be.covered by conditions inserted therein, and did not include the subject of payment to laborers or furnishers of material, the provision in the bond which covered this particular, not coming within thé direct requirements of the statutory provisions, was illegal, unauthorized, and void, and hence not enforceable. A similar question has been presented to, considered, and determined by this court, and it has been decided that it was within the province of the proper officers of the state, upon whom it devolved to let such contract, to exact a bond containing a condition in relation, to the payment of laborers’ wages and the accounts of parties who had furnished material, and it was held that such a condition was valid and any liability arising thereunder could be enforced. (Sample v. Hale, 34 Neb., 220; Korsmeyer Plumbing & Heating Co. v. Me Clay, 43 Neb., 649.)
It is also urged that the plaintiff was not a party to the bond, and that no action could accrue or be based thereon in its behalf. A precisely similar question to this one has been heretofore discussed in and by this court, and it was then held that the promise set forth in the condition of the bond under consideration was for the benefit and an action arose thereon in favor of the laborer to whom wages remained due or to the furnisher of. material whose account or any portion thereof was unpaid. (Doll v. Crume, 41 Neb., 655; Hyman v. City of Lincoln, 38 Neb., 794; Korsmeyer Plumbing & Heating Co. v. McClay, 43 Neb., 649; Sample v. Hale, 34 Neb., 220.)
It is also urged that' by the • dissolution of the firm of
It is urged that the testimony does not show that the material stated in the account, upon which this suit was based, was used in the construction of the “industrial home.” The evidence was sufficient to sustain the finding of the jury in respect to this branch of the case, and in accordance with a well established rule of this court, it will not be disturbed. Errors were assigned of the action of the
It was assigned that the court erred in giving instructions 1 and 2 of the instructions given on its own motion. Of these instructions No. 2 was clearly pertinent and proper, and this being ascertained, no further examination of these instructions need be made, as the alleged errors were not separately assigned.
Complaint was also made that the court erred in refusing to give instructions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, asked by the plaintiff in error. These instructions were framed and submitted in support of the views of counsel for plaintiff in error in relation to the questions involved in the case, and, according to our determination of such questions, were, several of them, clearly erroneous and improper, one of which was that numbered 2, and as they were grouped in the assignment which referred to them, having concluded that one was incorrect and properly refused, it disposes of the entire assignment.
The action of the court in giving instructions numbered 1 and 2, requested by the plaintiff in that court, was assigned as error. These instructions do not conflict materially, if at all, with the views herein expressed in regard to the proper disposition to be made of the issues in the case, under the facts as developed in the evidence. There is nothing in them which could prejudice the rights of the complaining party, and their giving was not error. The judgment of the district court is
Affirmed.