Huckestein v. Nunnery Hill Incline Plane Co.

Citations

• 173 Pa. 169
• 33 A. 1108
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 677

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Construction of contract — Receipt.</p> <p>Plaintiff, an owner of land over which the defendant was about to construct an incline plane, wrote to the defendant that he desired that the trestles should be set so that their base should be no higher than the grade of a certain street, or at a rise of four or five feet to the hundred feet from the street grade. Defendant accepted the proposition with the modification that the east wall should be “of the height of the grade as it now is immediately west and next to the trestle.” On the same day that the proposition was accepted, plaintiff and defendant entered into an agreement in writing by which plaintiff agreed to do all the necessary excavation for defendant “ according to the directions and under the supervision of the engineer in charge of the construction of said incline.” Nothing was said in any of the papers as to any earth excavation. After the work was completed plaintiff gave to defendant a receipt “ in full settlement for all stone work and excavation ” furnished in connection with the construction of the incline plane. Nearly six years after the road was finished plaintiff brought suit against defendant to recover profits which he would have made by earth excavation if the trestles had been set at the level of the street mentioned in his proposition instead of upon the natural surface of the ground as they had been set in accordance with the instructions of the defendant’s engineer. Held, that plaintiff was not entitled to recover such profits.</p>