33 Pa. Super. 106 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1907
Opinion by
The plaintiff’s action is based upon an obligation signed by the defendant in the following form:
“ Phila April 11th 1904
“ I John Turner hereby acknowledge the services rendered to me by Margaret Lomasney by nursing etc from April 15th 1903 and hereby agree to pay to her therefor the sum of twenty-five dollars per week and hereby bind myself, executors, administrators to pay the same
“ Witness my hand this 11th day of April 1904 ”
This document admits a parol obligation of the defendant to the plaintiff for services as a nurse theretofore rendered. It shows that the services commenced April 15, 1903; it also fixes the weekly compensation to which the plaintiff was entitled, but it is silent upon a material point, to wit: the length of time during which the nursing was continued. The starting point was April 15, 1903, but there is no acknowledgment that the service continued for any particular time. The date of the paper is not the time to which the defendant admits the plaintiff cared for him, but is the time at which he made the written declaration of his obligation to pay. It therefore throws no light on the question when the plaintiff ceased to nurse the defendant. The instrument is not a contract of hiring, but an acknowledgment of an implied or parol agreement for services which had been rendered before this paper was signed. It does contain an undertaking to pay 125.00 a week for the services rendered, but it is not an agreement to pay that amount from- April 15, 1903 until April 11, 1904. So much of the affidavit of defense as denied that the services were rendered for a longer period than five weeks was responsive to the plaintiff’s claim. The defendant was only liable for nursing. The plaintiff alleged in her statement of claim that the services referred to in the paper sued on continued from April 15, 1903, until April 11, 1904. Unless, therefore, the written instrument contains an admission to that effect the defendant is entitled
The judgment is affirmed.