Johnson v. Wanamaker

Citations

• 17 Pa. Super. 301
• 1901 Pa. Super. LEXIS 307

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Quantum meruit — Architect's plans — Contradiction of testimony.</p> <p>The law implies a promise to pay what services are worth, when they are upon request performed and the parties have not expressly agreed upon a rate of compensation, but if the amount of compensation has been agreed upon, or a rule adopted by which it is to be ascertained, the law lets the contract stand as the parties have made it.</p> <p>When the evidence is contradictory as to whether the parties have agreed upon the compensation which is to be paid for services, or for goods sold and delivered, there is no presumption of law that the contract as made was not complete in all its terms. The truth is to be determined from the evidence produced as in any other disputed question of fact. The burden is upon the plaintiff to establish by a preponderance of evidence the facts from-which the law will infer a promise by the defendant to pay what the services are worth. If such facts are not so established, the plaintiff is not entitled to recover.</p> <p>In an action to recover for plans furnished for a building where the plaintiff testifies that he was to be paid for his work at such a rate of compensation as his services as an architect were worth, and the defendant testifies positively that the terms of the employment were distinctly agreed upon, and there is no other testimony, a referee cannot avoid passing upon the veracity of the witnesses by deciding in favor of the plaintiff on the theory that on the evidence as it stood a presumption arose in favor of the plaintiff that he was to be paid for what his services were worth, unless the defendant showed by a preponderance of the evidence there was a special agreement that he was to take less for his work, or be compensated in some unusual way.</p> <p>Contract — Damages—Architect's plans.</p> <p>In an action by an architect to recover for plans furnished for a building, where the referee finds as a fact that the plans are incomplete