Purcell v. Warburton

Citations

• 70 Wash. 129
• 126 P. 89
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1014

Syllabus

<p>Landlord and Tenant — Breach of Covenant — Measure of Damages. Under a lease of rooms to be sublet for furnished lodgings, the measure of damages for breach of the lessor’s covenant to furnish heat is the difference between the value of the use of the rooms as furnished by the lessee and heated as contemplated by the contract, and the value of the use as in fact heated by the lessor.</p> <p>Appeal — Review—Harmless Error. Failure to strictly adhere to the correct rule of damages in propounding questions to a witness is harmless where the same testimony would have been elicited had the questions been asked in the correct form.</p> <p>Landlord and Tenant — Breach of Covenant — Evidence — Instructions. In an action for breach of a covenant in a lease to furnish heat for rooms to be sublet for lodgings, evidence to show that lodgers suffered discomfort and illness by reason of failure to properly heat the rooms is relevant, where proper instruction on the measure of damages eliminated all elements of damages suffered by the lodgers.</p> <p>Same — Instructions. In. such ease, refusal to instruct that there could be no recovery if the rooms were kept as full as when properly heated, is harmless.</p> <p>Appeal — Review—Harmless Error — Instructions. Error in giving a written instruction after the close of the argument, when the law requires that it be given before argument, is harmless, where it covered inconsequential matter, was correct in the abstract, and without prejudice.</p> <p>Trial — Special Interrogatories — Discretion. Error cannot be assigned on the refusal to submit special interrogatories to the jury, the matter being entirely discretionary.</p>