National Market Co. v. Maryland Casualty Co.

Citations

• 100 Wash. 370
• 170 P. 1009
• 1918 Wash. LEXIS 737

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Improvements — Claim Against Bond —-Assignment oe Claim—Sufficiency. The assignment of laborer’s checks by mere delivery and indorsement constitutes an assignment of the debts owing by the contractor to the laborers for work performed on a public improvement, and of the laborer’s claims against ther contractor’s bond, conditioned to pay laborers and materialmen, and authorizes the assignee to file a claim against the bond; and this, notwithstanding the checks did not show upon their face the nature of the indebtedness for which they were issued (Overruled on rehearing).</p> <p>On Rehearing.</p> <p>Municipal Corporations—Improvements — Claim Against Bond —Assignment of Claim—Checks •—■ Bills and Notes. The issuance of ordinary bank checks by a contractor to laborers, and their indorsement and delivery for value to a purchaser having knowledge that they were given for labor claims, does not operate as an assignment of the laborers’ rights' of lien or claims against the contractor's bond; in view of the negotiable instruments law, Rem. Code, §§ 3516, 3457, and 3579, defining bills of exchange and checks, making the same simply an order for the payment of money, and providing the effect of an indorsement, which does not under the law affect the debt or constitute an assignment thereof (Parker, Fullerton, and Mount, XT., dissent).</p>