Ehlers

This action was brought to recover from the defendants the reasonable value of plaintiffs alleged services rendered as an architect in drawing and preparing certain plans and specifications for buildings proposed to be erected by the defendants. Judgment was rendered for plaintiff in the sum of seven hundred and fifty-one dollars and forty-five cents; and from the judgment and an order denying a new trial the defendants appeal.

The evidence as to the value having been entirely that of expert witnesses, who differed in their estimates of the value, the defendants asked one of the witnesses how long it would take to draw the plans and specifications; to this question the plaintiff objected upon general grounds, and also upon the ground that it was not the proper method of proving the value of plaintiff’s services; and the court sustained the objection, saying that architecture is a science, and that the value of an architect’s labor is not to be measured by the time consumed. Defendant excepted to this ruling, and the question thus presented is the most important one in the case, although the arguments of counsel upon the point are very meager. The ruling was erroneous. It is…