Peterman v. Goss

Citations

• 93 Wash. 184
• 160 P. 432
• 1916 Wash. LEXIS 1182

Syllabus

<p>Contracts — Building Contracts — -Provision for Arbitration and Notice — “Other Contractors.” The disputes of a general contractor with his materialmen and subcontractors are not submitted to the arbitration of the architects by a contract for the construction of a school building reciting that the heating, plumbing, electric work, painting and general excavation will be let in separate contracts and not included in the general contract, and providing that the general contractors shall allow space to contractors for parts of the work not included in the general contract and that the contractors are to work in harmony and their differences settled by the architects, where the clause in question provided that, should any contractor or subcontractor claim damages on account of the delay or negligence of other contractors, he must give written notice of the claim to the architects for adjustment etc.; since the same has application only to “other contractors” “not included in the general contract,” and hence does not require notice of claim for damages by the general contractor on account of the delay of a subcontractor furnishing him mill work on the general contract.</p> <p>Same — Performance or Breach — Delay — Damages — Offset— Overhead Charges. In a subcontractor’s action against a contractor, overhead charges for salaries during the period of delay through plaintiff’s failure to perform on time will not be allowed as a set-off, where it appears that the general contractor’s other work was not finished during that time and that the overhead charges would have been continued and incurred in any event.</p> <p>Same — Performance or Breach- — Delay—Damages — Evidence — Sufficiency. The conclusion of witnesses that there was a twenty-five per cent loss in efficiency in installing mill work in a school building through delay in furnishing the mill work is not warranted by the fact that ten to fifteen carpenters were laid off at various times by reason of the delay, it