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Keywords

contractdamagesappeal

contractplaintiffliabilityverdict

Related Cases

Rockingham County v. Luten Bridge Co., 35 F.2d 301, 66 A.L.R. 735

Facts

The Luten Bridge Company was awarded a contract by the Rockingham County board of commissioners for bridge construction on January 7, 1924. Following a resignation and subsequent appointment of a new commissioner, the board passed several resolutions repudiating the contract and notifying the bridge company that it would not recognize the contract as valid. Despite this, the bridge company continued construction and later sought to recover the full contract price, leading to the legal dispute.

At one of these meetings, a regularly advertised called meeting held on February 21st, a resolution was unanimously adopted declaring that the contract for the building of the bridge was not legal and valid, and directing the clerk of the board to notify plaintiff that it refused to recognize same as a valid contract, and that plaintiff should proceed no further thereunder.

Issue

The main legal issues were whether the answer filed by certain commissioners constituted the county's official answer and whether the resolutions passed by the board were valid actions of the county.

As the county now admits the execution and validity of the contract, and the breach on its part, the ultimate question in the case is one as to the measure of plaintiff's recovery, and the exceptions must be considered with this in mind.

Rule

The court ruled that a county can only be bound by actions taken at a legally convened meeting of its board of commissioners, and that actions taken by individual members outside of such meetings do not bind the county.

The rule is well settled that the governing board of a county can act only as a body and when in legal session as such.

Analysis

The court found that the answer filed by the commissioners was not authorized by the board as a whole and thus could not bind the county. Additionally, the resolutions passed by the board repudiating the contract were deemed valid actions of the county, as they were made by a quorum of the board in a legally convened meeting.

We think, therefore, that Pruitt, Pratt, and McCollum, even if they constituted a majority of the board of commissioners, did not bind the county by their action in filing an answer admitting its liability, where no meeting of the board of commissioners was held according to law, and where, so far as appears, the other commissioners were not even notified of what was being attempted.

Conclusion

The court reversed the lower court's judgment, holding that the Luten Bridge Company could not recover the full contract price due to the county's prior notice of cancellation and repudiation of the contract.

It follows that there was error in directing a verdict for plaintiff for the full amount of its claim.

Who won?

Rockingham County prevailed in the appeal because the court found that the Luten Bridge Company had continued construction after being notified of the county's repudiation, which limited its recovery to damages incurred prior to that notice.

The court reversed the lower court's decision, holding that the county's actions regarding the contract were not valid.

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