Wiley v. Hart

Citations

• 74 Wash. 142
• 132 P. 1015
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 2011

Syllabus

<p>Appeal — Review—Findings. Findings upon conflicting evidence will not be disturbed on appeal, where it cannot be said that the trial court, hearing and seeing a large number of witnesses, did not fairly measure the evidence.</p> <p>Contracts — Building Contracts — Extras — Written Orders oe Architect — Necessity. The owners are not liable for extras orally agreed to by the architect, acting as the owners’ agent, where the owners did not agree to or have any knowledge thereof, and the building contract provided that no alterations should be made except upon a written order of the architect.</p> <p>Contracts — Building Contracts — Demurrage — Impracticable Apportionment oe Damages. Nothing can be allowed under a demurrage clause in a building contract for failure to complete the building on time, where it appears that, while the contractors were dilatory, a considerable portion of the delay was due to the acts of the architect, as agent of the owners, and also to the fault of the owners in not completing the building sooner after taking possession, making it impracticable to apportion the damages.</p> <p>Indemnity — Building Contracts — Liens—Attorney’s Fees — Damages- — Mitigation. The owners of a building, seeking recovery from the contractors’ surety for their default in performance, are not obliged to settle with lien claimants before judgment foreclosing the liens, in order to mitigate damages by saving attorney’s fees in the foreclosures, where they used due diligence to ascertain the just amount of the claims without obtaining such information as would justify their payment before judgment.</p> <p>Principal and Surety — Discharge oe Surety — Alterations—Consent. A surety company guaranteeing the performance of a building contract is not relieved from liability by reason of material changes in the contract, where it had notice of the changes and consented thereto; especially where the only damages allowed were those resulting from liens and defective construc