Patterson Water Co. v. Mifflin Borough

Citations

• 69 Pa. Super. 441
• 1918 Pa. Super. LEXIS 106

Syllabus

<p>Water companies — Boroughs—Contract — Supplying water for fire purposes — Severable contract.</p> <p>Where a water company contracts in writing to supply a borough for a period of ten years with water for fire purposes, and covenants that the water “shall be brought from such an elevation and force that the same can be used for extinguishing fires without the use of the fire engine within the borough limits,” it is not error for the court, in an action by the company against the borough to recover twelve months’ rental, to permit the defendant to show that for a portion of the time water had not been furnished at the force specified; and it is also not error for the court to refuse to permit the plaintiff to show that during the continuance of a previous ten-year contract between the company and the borough, the borough had waived the stipulation as to the force of the water to be supplied.</p> <p>In such a case the court commits no error in instructing the jury that the contract was severable, and that the water company could only recover for the time it actually supplied the water in accordance with the terms of the contract.</p>