McHugh v. City of Tacoma

Citations

• 76 Wash. 127
• 135 P. 1011
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1795

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Public Works — Contract— Construction — Changes-—Extra Work. A clause in a contract for tbe construction of a pipe line for city water works, along a specified route, reserving to the city the right to make any changes in lines, grades, and plans without being liable for extra work, refers to reasonable and not to radical changes; and the change is a radical one, not authorized by the contract, and the city is liable for extra work, as provided for in the contract, where for a distance of six miles of a fifteen mile pipe line, the city ordered a change of route two and one-half miles distant from the line bid upon, through a more diflicult soil known as hardpan, and requiring excavation at a greater depth; especially where, at the time the change was made, the contractor and city engineer in charge of the work, and the city council by resolution, recognized the change as entailing extra work under the contract.</p> <p>Same — Changes—Powers oe Oeeicers — Fixing Extra Pay. Upon a dispute as to the cost of extra work required of a city contractor for the construction of a pipe line, the city engineer, the commissioner, and the city council have the right to agree with the contractor as to the actual cost of the work, upon which the payments were to be based, as provided for in the contract.</p> <p>Same — Contract—Extra Work — Payment. Under a contract for the construction of a city pipe line, classifying the excavation as solid rock, loose rock, and earth, to be paid for by the cubic yard, and which provided that extra work should be paid for at cost with ten per cent added, it is immaterial, where a change of the line made extra work and the parties had mutually agreed upon the cost thereof, whether such extra excavation-in “hardpan” was properly classified as loose rock or solid rock; since the “cost” and ten per cent added is all the contractor could recover.</p> <p>Same — Contract—Changes in Contract Price — Power oe City. Where a contra