180 Iowa 291 | Iowa | 1917
The contract was entered into on February 15, 1913. Under its provisions, the defendant Williamson and his wife and son were to work for the plaintiff Murphy at his home and upon.his farm for a period of 10 years. Murphy undertook on his part to pay a compensation of $20 per month at the end of each month, and the further sum of $20.per month at the expiration of the 10-year period, with 4 per cent interest on deferred payments, and an additional lump sum of $500 at the expiration of such 10-year period. He further agreed that the.son, then a boy 11 years of age, should have certain school privileges, and that he would provide a home for the family, and would pay all their living expenses except for clothing. The parties operated under this contract from February 15th to the close of the corn husking season, December 5, 1913, on which date Williamson and his family .left. The principal complaint of Williamson against Murphy was that of harsh and unwarranted treatment of the boy. !
On the theory that Williamson .breached the contract, the plaintiff claimed, as his measure of damage, the difference between the contract price and the market value of the future service. In support of such measure of damage,
On the other hand, on the theory that Murphy breached the contract, the defendant Williamson elected and claimed to recover as on quantmn meruit the value .of the services rendered by him under the contract. He also introduced evidence to the effect that the services of himself and wife were worth approximately the same amount as was shown by the testimony for the plaintiff.
The decisive questions, therefore, were: (1) Who breached the contract? (2) If Murphy breached it, what was the proper measure of recovery on the counterclaim?
I Murphy appears to have been a single man, whether a bachelor or a widower does not appear. He lived on a farm. His mother had previously lived with him, but had died shortly prior to the date of this contract. He had a housekeeper, who had been in the family for many years, and who remained with him. There were no other members of the family. The Williamsons were taken into this home. Mrs. Williamson did work both inside and outside upon the farm. Mr. Williamson engaged in the general farm work on the place, and did also carpenter and mason work.
“I had treated Mr. Williamson all right. Mr. Williamson never claimed I had mistreated him. * * * I told him I was not in any Avay responsible for his wife, and I did not contract with her.”
Concerning an interview with Mrs. Williamson, he testified as íoIIoaacs:
“I think the boy told Mrs. Williamson something, for she jumped on to me about it, and I told her to just tend to her own business and there would be no trouble. I think she charged me with scolding or trying to choke him, and I told her I never did it. I think Mr. Williamson sat on the steps of the house at that time.”
On the morning of the day of final separation, Murphy staged a scene which must be regarded as furnishing some index to his capacity for sarcasm. He called the William-sons into a room, and called in others also, as witnesses, who were without interest or business in the controversy. He there read the contract to the Williamsons, and followed this by reading a chapter from the Bible. This latter was confessedly not done as an act of piety. His own testimony concerning this circumstance was as follows:
“I think I asked Mr. Williamson that morning to stay. The morning they left, I got the Bible and read to. them the twenty-second chapter of Matthew. Mr. and Mrs. Williamson and Isaac were present; also Bobert Batty and young Nicewander. I did not make any remark to them about the passage, except I told them that my brother, who was a Methodist minister, had recommended- the reading of the Bible in the family, and I had selected that chapter as a very appropriate one for that occasion. That was the first time I had read it to them since they came, but I read it*297 quite often myself. This occurred at the same time we were all talking about the Williamsons’ leaving. * * * I thought the chapter in Matthew in reference to the betrayal of Peter was most appropriate. I told them my brother had recommended the reading of the Scripture, and I thought Mr. Williamson was just as big a traitor as Peter. My brother is a Methodist minister, and is a great friend of Mr. Williamson. My brother lived at the same place in Kansas as Mr. Williamson did.”
No useful purpose can be served by pursuing further the details of the evidence. It is sufficient to say that we have no doubt of its sufficiency to sustain the finding of the jury that Murphy’s conduct amounted to a breach of the contract, and therefore justified the abandonment thereof by Williamson.
“As a general rule, it may be said that a contract is entire when, by its terms, nature and purpose, it contemplates and intends that each and all of its parts and the consideration shall be common each to the other and interdependent. On the other hand, it is the general rule that*298 a severable contract is one in its nature and purpose susceptible of division and apportionment. The question whether a given contract is entire or separable is very largely one of intention, which intention is to be determined from the language the parties have used and the subject-matter of the agreement. The divisibility of the subject-matter or the consideration is not necessarily conclusive, though of aid in arriving at the intention. * * Where it reasonably appears from the language of the contract or from its terms that the parties intended that a full and complete performance should be made with reference to the subject-matter of the contract by one party in consideration of the obligation of the other party to the contract, it is said to be entire. It is very difficult to lay down a rule which will apply to all cases, and consequently each case must depend very largely upon the terms of the contract involved.”
In Hanson & Linehan v. Consumers’ Steam Heating Co., 73 Iowa 77, 79, we said:
“Tt is very clear, we think, that the contract was sever-able. Plaintiffs undertook to deliver so much coal as defendant might require in its business during the time covered by the agreement. The coal was to be delivered from time to time, as it would be required in the business,' and defendant undertook to pay on the 10th day of each month, at the stipulated price per ton, for such coal as should be delivered during the preceding month. At the end of any month, the rights and obligations of the parties, so far as they related to the coal delivered during the month, were settled and determined by the contract, and they were not dependent upon whether anything further should be done under it or not. Plaintiffs were entitled absolutely to be paid for the property on the 10th day of the following month, and they could maintain an action at that time for the recovery of the stipulated price.”
Appellant urges that the trial court held the contract to be severable, and that such holding is binding upon the appellee on this appeal. The trial court did not purport in terms to hold that the contract was severable. Appellant points to Instruction 13 given by the court, and argues that its necessary effect was to hold that the contract was severable. By this instruction, the trial court charged the jury that, if the defendant was not justified in abandoning
The foregoing presents the principal questions argued in the briefs. While we have not dealt in detail with all the assignments of error, what we have here said is decisive of them all. We find no prejudicial error. The judgment below is, therefore, — Affirmed.