York City School Dist. v. Ætna Indemnity Co.

Citations

• 131 F. 131
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4886

Syllabus

<p>1. Suretyship — Contracts—Omitted Provisions — Reformation of Instrument — Federal Courts — Jurisdiction.</p> <p>Where, after a building contractor, who had agreed to erect a schoolhouse for plaintiff school district, had abandoned the contract, the school board and the contractor’s surety entered into an agreement under which the board was entitled to finish the work at the expense of the surety, whatever its cost, the surety, in an action at law in the federal courts on such contract to recover the difference between the amount so expended and the contract price, was not entitled to have the contract reformed for the purpose of inserting an alleged omitted provision that, if the surety would waive a payment erroneously made by the school board to the contractor, and would agree to the payment of certain debts due to local materialmen and laborers, the district would finish the building within the contract price.</p>