Watkins v. Moore

Citations

• 196 Pa. 469
• 46 A. 482
• 1900 Pa. LEXIS 539

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Consideration—Cause of action — Amendment.</p> <p>In an action of assumpsit plaintiffs averred in their original statement that having an option on defendant’s land, they did certain work in testing it for coal; that they afterwards, with others, took a deed for the land and gave a mortgage to secure the purchase money; that subsequently defendant promised to pay them a certain sum in consideration of the loss which they had sustained in testing the land, but that this sum was not to be paid until defendant had collected the mortgage. In the amended statement it was averred that the promise was made in consideration that plaintiffs would render 'continuing services to discover coal. This last averment was not sustained by the proofs. The uncontradicted testimony for the defendant was that another person had advanced all the money that had been expended in testing, and that such person had subsequently bought plaintiff’s interest in the land, and had paid them a sum more than the amount which they claimed from defendant. Held, that plaintiffs had 1)0 cause of action against defendant.</p>