Dixon v. Parker, Moran & Parker

Citations

• 102 Wash. 101
• 172 P. 856
• 1918 Wash. LEXIS 1243

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Change op Grade — Police Power— Contractor’s Bond—Necessity. An ordinance requiring a railroad company to make a separation of street grades is an exercise of the general police power, and the duty of performance placed upon the railroad company is traceable thereto and not to a contractual assumption by the railway company; hence Rem. Code, § 1159 et seq., requiring the city to take a bond from contractors on public work has no application thereto.</p> <p>Railroads—Construction Contracts—Bond—Mechanics’ Liens— Notice—Necessity. The failure of a railroad company to take a bond from a contractor, under Rem. Code, § 1129, to respond in lieu of a lien, renders the company liable in personam, as provided by the act, for labor and materials furnished to subcontractors; but only when a lien has been duly filed therefor as required by the statute; this liability being only a statutory substitute for the lien in rem against specific property, to be perfected by the filing of notice of lien as required by Rem. Code, § 1134, when no bond was given.</p> <p>Frauds, Statute of — Debt op Another — Direct Promise. A verbal promise by representatives of a railroad contractor and the railroad to see that certain subcontractors were paid, if the main subcontractor did not pay them, is not sufficient to create an original or collateral undertaking and is void under the statute of frauds.</p> <p>Municipal Corporations — Railroads — Loss op Lien ■—■ Equity. Where there was no privity and no lien filed, the fact that a subcontractor’s work on a separation of grades was a benefit to the city and the railroad company, would not render either liable in equity, the contractor having been paid in full.</p> <p>Interest—Contract. In an action on contract, interest should be allowed from the date the same was due and not from the date of the judgment.</p>