Peoples National Bank v. Southern Surety Co.

This appeal is from a judgment in favor of the defendant in an action prosecuted by the plaintiff to recover on a surety bond for money advanced or loaned to a contractor in the performance of work on a public building in the city of Los Angeles.

The record shows that a contracting firm doing business under the name of Hennessy Bros. & Company, Incorporated, obtained a contract for the building of a concrete warehouse for the city of Los Angeles, and in pursuance of an act of the legislature approved May 10, 1919 (Stats. 1919, p. 487), a surety bond was given by the defendant corporation.

Omitting all the preliminary matters set forth in the surety bond, we herewith set forth the portion thereof involved in this action:

The bond was in the sum of $39,000.

During the course of the work upon the building mentioned by the contracting firm, the plaintiff advanced or loaned to the contractor certain sums of money at different times, upon which there was due the plaintiff, at the time of the beginning of this suit, the aggregate sum of $21,369.89, as principal. Paragraph VI of the plaintiff’s amended complaint, relative to its advancement of money, is in the following words:

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