Kerfoot v. Cromwell Mound Co.

Citations

• 115 Ill. 502
• 25 N.E. 960

Syllabus

<p>1. Contract—written contract not signed by the party sought to be charged—liability. It is not always essential to the liability of a person sought to be charged upon a written contract, that his name be signed thereto.</p> <p>2. In this case certain property owners in the city of Chicago, desiring to procure the improvement of certain streets upon which their property was situated, entered into a contract for that purpose. The contract was reduced to writing, the person who was to make the improvement being designated as party of the first part, and the property owners as party of the second part, among the latter the name of W. D. Kerfoot, who disputed his liability on the ground that he had not signed the instrument, being given. C. A. Kerfoot was also named as one of the parties of the second part. The instrument provided that the party of the first part should do the work, and the parties of the second part should pay for it, and concluded as follows: “In witness whereof the parties hereto have caused the contract to be signed by the parties representing first and second part, ” etc. The paper ivas signed, after the signature of the contractor, in the following form:</p> <p>0. A. Kerfoot, By W. D. Kerfoot, A. M. Jones.</p> <p>Committee and agents for owners of property.</p> <p>This was considered a sufficient execution of the contract by W. D. Kerfoot to bind him according to its terms, and to render the instrument admissible in evidence against him in an action upon the written contract to enforce his liability.</p> <p>3. The name of W. D. Kerfoot appears in the written contract as one of the parties of the second part. The agreement purports to bind him as well as the other parties of the second part, and the testing clause recites that the contract was caused to be signed by the persons representing the parties of the first and second parts. Kurther, W. D. Kerfoot, the person sought to be charged, did sign his name to the paper for O. A. Kerfoot, one of t