Davis v. City of Wenatchee

Citations

• 86 Wash. 13
• 149 P. 337
• 1915 Wash. LEXIS 1177

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Contract for Improvements — Validity —Independent Contractors — Torts—Liability op City. An understanding arrived at by correspondence between the water commissioner of a city of the third class and contractors, whereby they undertook to dig trenches in the streets for water mains, involving an expenditure of over $500, is not a valid contract of the city whereby the contractors would be independent contractors, in view of Rem. & Bal. Code, § 7694, requiring street contracts requiring an expenditure of $500 to be let to the lowest bidder; and in view of the city ordinances requiring certain provisions in such contracts, and the taking and approval of indemnity bonds securing performance of the same.</p> <p>Same — Torts—Public Improvements — Independent Contractors —Liability op City — Estoppel. Where a city permits street work to be done without any valid contract therefor and accepts the bene.fits thereof, it cannot claim that the persons doing the work are independent contractors instead of servants of the city, and therefore it cannot escape liability for the negligence of such parties, on the plea that it was acting ultra vires.</p> <p>Same — Public Improvements — Torts — Liability — Explosives— Failure to Safeguard. A city is liable for negligence in failing to safeguard explosives, known by it to he used by its agents and employees in digging trenches in the streets, where dynamite caps and fuse were left in an untied sack upon the parking strip after work for the day was done, and a child found the same and was injured by the explosion of a cap.</p> <p>Same — Torts—Notice to City. Where a city is doing work through its own employees, it is charged with notice of their negligent acts in using and failing to safeguard explosives used in the work.</p> <p>Trial — Instructions—Construction. Error cannot he predicated upon a detached part of an instruction, which was not erroneous when taken in its context, and reading the instruction as