Dugue v. Levy

Citations

• 114 La. 21
• 37 So. 995
• 1904 La. LEXIS 519

Syllabus

<p>-BUILDING CONTRACT — ARCHITECT S CERTIEI-CATE — PERFORMANCE—CANCELLATION</p> <p>BY OWNER.</p> <p>1. When a building contract stipulates that the work shall be done under the supervision of an architect, and that payments shall be due only upon the production of a certificate from ■such architect, the architect is made primarily 'the judge of whether the contract has been fulfilled or not, and his findings in that regard should not be lightly overruled; but if his refusal of a certificate is dictated by caprice or prejudice, and the contractor is evidently entitled to be paid, and the owner is so advised, payment must be made despite the nonproduction of a certificate.</p> <p>2. A substantial performance of the contract is all tiiat the law requires, and the employer will not be permitted to avoid payment because the strict letter of the agreement has not been carried out. Slight deviations, or technical, unimportant, or inadvertent omissions or defects, will not bar recovery.</p> <p>3. The proprietor who exercises the right accorded him by article 2765, Oiv. Code, to cancel at his pleasure the building contract, must pay the contractor for all expenses incurred and for all labor done, and, in addition, all dam-</p> <p>' ages his act may have caused, such as tlie loss •of the profits the contractor would have made if he had been permitted to complete the building; but he is not.liable for such consequential damages as the loss of reputation and credit the canceling of the contract may have caused to the contractor.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>