Solary v. Webster

Citations

• 35 Fla. 363

Syllabus

<p>1. The common law rule is, that to authorize a recovery on a-bond of indemnity, as distinguished from one of indemnity and also against liability, actual damage must be shown~by the plaintiff.</p> <p>2. The general rule is, that verbal contemporaneous agreements are-inadmissible to contradict or vary the terms of a valid plain written instrument, but in order to arrive at the correct meaning of the language of a contract, and to make a correct application of the terms used to the subject-matter and objects referred to therein, where such matters are left in doubt, the surrounding circumstances may be considered, and they are not excluded under the general rule mentioned.</p> <p>3. A suit on a bond, reciting that the obligee therein had settled in full with the obligor under a certain contract for the improvement of a hotel by paying a sum mentioned in full of all demands, and canditioned that the obbgor should well and truly pay off his sub-contractors, laborers and material men, so that no lien should attach or be asserted against the building or land on which it was situated, and hold the obligee harmless against any and all claims for labor or material used or contracted for by the obligor in or about the improvement of the building, and the claim sued for was alleged to be for material used by the obligor in and about the building, a plea interposed, .alleged in substance that the claim sued on was a demand due from the obligor in the bond to the obligee and that in the settlement made between them at the time of the ex< cution of the bond the said claim had been adjusted and paid in full; Held, That the plea was good on demurrer.</p>