Hambach v. Ward

Citations

• 69 Wash. 351
• 125 P. 140
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 908

Syllabus

<p>Statutes—Title and Subject. The object of an act rendering municipal corporations liable to laborers and materialmen if the city fail to take a bond from contractors on public work, is sufficiently disclosed by the title, an act requiring bonds from contractors on public work, conditioned to pay laborers and material-men.</p> <p>Municipal Corporations—Contracts—Public Work—Bonds— Liability for Labor and Material. The fact that city officers did not have authority to make a contract for a public work, will not avoid the liability of the city to laborers and materialmen for the failure of the city to take a bond from the contractors, as: provided by Rem. & Bal. Code, § 1159, where the contractor was engaged in a public work such as the officers had authority to carry on, with their knowledge and consent, and the city had received the benefit of the work.</p> <p>Same—Amount of Liability—Quantum Meruit. Rem. & Bal. Code, § 1159, rendering a city liable to laborers and materialmen on public work, if it fails to take a bond from the contractor, creates a liability only upon a quantum meruit and not for the “agreed” price of the labor or material.</p> <p>Same—Nature of Liability—Penal or Remedial. Rem. & Bal. Code, § 1159, rendering a city liable for labor and materials on pub-lie work, if it fails to take a bond from the contractor, is remedial and not penal in its nature, not differing from statutes for mechanics’ liens.</p>