Trustees of Methodist Episcopal Church of Franklin v. Equitable Surety Co.

Citations

• 269 Pa. 411
• 112 A. 551
• 1921 Pa. LEXIS 578

Syllabus

<p>Principal and surety — Bond—Building contract — Building committee — Agency—Church congregation — Parties—Strict construction.</p> <p>1. Where a bond is given to certain individuals as the building committee of an incorporated church, to secure the performance of a building contract, the church under its corporate name may sue on the bond, inasmuch as the committee is a mere agency of ■the corporation.</p> <p>2. In Pennsylvania the rule of strict construction, applied to contracts of ordinary suretyship, does not prevail, where- the bond or undertaking is executed upon a consideration, by a corporation, organized to issue such bonds or undertakings for profit; and this is the case although the bond specifies that “it shall be construed strictly as one of suretyship only.”</p> <p>3. A foreign surety company coming into this State is bound by the law of Pennsylvania in this respect.</p> <p>Principal and surety — Building contract — Payment of retained percentages.</p> <p>4. A payment by the owner to the contractor of retained percentages, under a building contract, will not release the surety on a bond given to secure performance of the contract, if it appears that nonpayment of the percentage would have stopped the work, and made the completion more costly to the surety.</p> <p>Principal and surety — Suit on bond — Entering judgment for penalty — Act of June lk, 1886, P. L. 687.</p> <p>5. Where, in a suit on a bond to secure performance of a building contract, it appears that some of the items making the claim had been paid after suit brought, defendant cannot maintain that the proceedings should have been brought under the Act of June 14, 1836, P. L. 637, by entering judgment for penalty on bond, with execution for damages up to the time suit was brought, and assessment for subsequent breaches on a scire facias.</p> <p>6. The act was intended to prevent the necessity of more than one suit on the same bond, and not to cover a case where the damages were entire, ha