Heite v. Cowgill

Citations

• 28 Del. 197
• 5 Boyce 197
• 91 A. 652
• 1914 Del. LEXIS 26

Syllabus

<p>1. Work and-Labor—Materials.</p> <p>Where a person is employed to furnish work, labor and materials for another, the person so employed is entitled to recover the stipulated price or, if there is no agreement as to the price, then such a sum as they are reasonably worth.</p> <p>2. Set-Off and Counterclaim—“Recoupment.”</p> <p>Recoupment is the right of a person, when sued for work and labor by another, having been damaged rather than benefited by the performance of the work, to recoup his damages so as to avoid the trouble and expense of another action, but, in order to give rise to a right of recoupment the defendant'must have a valid cause of action for which a separate suit could be maintained, and the damage must not have occurred through defendant’s fault, in which case he may recover up to the value of the claim of the plaintiff, but may not have an affirmative judgment for any excess.</p> <p>3. Work and Labor—Actions—Pleading—General Issue.</p> <p>Where, in an action for work and labor, defendant filed a general issue with notice of recoupment, he was entitled to prove his counterclaim, provided it was founded on the same contract and grew out of the same transaction, for the loss or damage sustained by reason of plaintiff’s failure ol refusal to perform either entirely or properly, in reduction and abatement of plaintiff’s claim.</p>