111 Kan. 271 | Kan. | 1922
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This was an action brought by the U. S. Fidelity & Guaranty Company upon an indemnity bond given by Theodore T. Grabske, to indemnify the plaintiff against loss on a contract of suretyship. It was decided that the answer of the defendant did not state a defense, .and from that ruling Grabske appeals. '
From the pleadings it appears that Albert H. Nooney entered into a contract with the board of education of Kansas City to furnish material and install a heating apparatus in a high-school building. He procured the Guaranty Company to give a bond that the contract would be carried out. Before doing so the Guaranty Company required Nooney to give a bond indemnifying it against
It is elementary that a written contract in itself complete and free from ambiguity cannot be altered or enlarged by showing prior or contemporaneous oral agreements where the writing purports to be a full expression of the agreement. When parties have deliberately put their engagements in a written contract it is deemed to be the best and only evidence of their agreements, and it is not competent for one of them to assert or show that there were conditions or limitations of liability different from those specified in the writing. The indemnity contract in question is a complete instrument which purports to embody the conditions upon which the liability of defendant should depend. The pleaded oral agreement so closely relates to the subject matter of the writing as to be in fact a part of the transaction, and not only adds conditions not in the writing, but some of them are contrary to its terms and obligations. In such a case all prior or contemporaneous negotiations and understandings are deemed to be merged in the contract and must be determined from the writing itself. (Van Fossan v. Gibbs, 91 Kan. 866, 139 Pac. 174, and cases cited; Stevens v. Inch, 98 Kan. 306, 158 Pac. 43; Underwood v. Viles, 106 Kan. 287, 187 Pac. 881, and cases cited.)
The court ruled correctly in sustaining the demurrer to defendant’s answer and its judgment is affirmed.