Brown v. Benton County

Citations

• 115 Wash. 373
• 197 P. 7
• 1921 Wash. LEXIS 722

Syllabus

<p>Highways (33)-—Contracts—Performance—Approval of Work. Under a highway construction contract providing that final payment was dependent upon a certificate by the engineer in charge or the state highway commissioner that the work had been completed in accordance with the contract, the final estimate of the balance due on the contract made by the engineer was the equivalent of a certificate of completion.</p> <p>Same (33). Where the state highway commissioner was not the final arbiter of the completion of a road building contract, his refusal to certify that the road was completed until certain additional work was done thereon bringing it up to the state highway department standard would not preclude the contractor from recovering the unpaid balance due, if he had performed the work according to the terms of his contract.</p> <p>Same (33). Under a road contract providing that “clay or other suitable binding material shall be added by the engineer, so that the surfacing will pack firmly under trafile,” a contractor, who had put in the quantity and character of binding material that the engineer in charge directed, and otherwise complied with the conditions of his contract, would be entitled to payment of the balance due, though the county may have gone to considerable expense in putting in additional and different binding material to make the road satisfactory to the county and to the state highway department.</p> <p>'Same (33). A clause in a road contract providing, that “failure or neglect of the engineer to condemn unsatisfactory material or reject inferior workmanship shall in no way release the contractor” is inapplicable to a situation where the material alleged to he unsatisfactory was put in under the express direction and approval of the engineer in charge.</p> <p>Same (33). Where the county commissioner, who was ex-officio road commissioner of the district in which highway work was done, inspected the work from time to time, good faith required that he sho