J. M. Griffith Co. v. City of Los Angeles

On April 24, 1893, the city of Los Angeles, defendant here, and certain persons, who may be called the “contractors,” executed several instruments in writing, which for present purposes we may regard as a single contract, whereby the contractors agreed to construct (at their own cost for labor and material) sections 3 and 6a of an outfall sewer leading from said city to the Pacific Ocean, for which construction the city agreed to pay them the aggregate sum of $77,450. Said contractors constructed said sections of sewer, and received most of the compensation provided in the contract. They assigned to the plaintiff, a corporation, their claims against the city for some unpaid balances, and for the value of certain alleged extra materials used by them in the work aforesaid. This is an action on the claims so assigned. Plaintiff had judgment below for some hundreds of dollars, but failed as to the bulk of its demand.

1. By the terms of the said contract the conduit in said sections of sewer was to be a pipe constructed of redwood staves bound with steel bands, and it was provided that the city might retain ten per cent of the price specified in said contract for the space of six…