Stone v. Pittsburg, Binghamton & Eastern Railroad

Citations

• 56 Pa. Super. 615
• 1914 Pa. Super. LEXIS 129

Syllabus

<p>Railroads — Land damages — Bonds—Principal and surety — iLiability of surety.</p> <p>1. Where a bond given by a railroad company to secure land damages binds the railroad company and the surety to pay a sum stated, the surety will be liable only for the amount stated, although the condition of the bond is that if the railroad company shall pay such amount of damages as the obligee shall be entitled to receive in consequence of the location of the railroad “whether the same exceed the amount of the penalty in this bond mentioned or not, without fraud or further delay, then this obligation to be null and void.”</p> <p>2. The liability of a surety in a bond given to secure the performance of collateral acts is limited by the penal sum therein expressed. He does not undertake to perform the act to be done by the principal, but pledges himself to compensate the obligee to the extent of the penalty for the failure of the principal to make good his promise. If the surety pays the amount named in the bond, he is discharged.</p> <p>3. Although a bond filed by a railroad company and a surety company for land damages is to be construed most strongly against the obligors because they fixed its terms, it is still to be construed according to its language in the absence of competent parol evidence qualifying it. Wadhams v. Lackawanna & B. R. R. Co., 42 Pa. 303, distinguished.</p>