Reber v. Brownback

Citations

• 27 Pa. Super. 471
• 1905 Pa. Super. LEXIS 84

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Written contract — Abandonment—Parol evidence — Evidence.</p> <p>It is always competent for the parties to a written contract to show that it was subsequently abandoned in whole or in part, modified, changed, or a new one substituted; and this may be shown by parol, by showing either an express agreement or actions necessarily involving the alterations.</p> <p>In an action on a parol contract for wiring a theater, the defendants set up a written contract under which the work was to be done for a price much less than that claimed by plaintiff. The plaintiff introduced evidence to the effect that the original plan was wholly inadequate and was radically changed, that the fair cost of the execution of the changed plan was more than three times the contract price; that the defendants knew just what was contemplated by the original contract; that every detail of the changes and alterations was approved by them before the work was done, and that the alterations were so interwoven with the execution of the original plan as to make it difficult, if not impossible, to separate the items of work and materials that went into each. It also appeared that the contract price, plus the additional cost for the changes and alterations, amounted to about the sum which the plaintiff claimed. Held, that the case was for the jury and that a verdict and judgment for the whole of plaintiff’s claim should be sustained.</p>