Benton

One of the plaintiffs, Fred Benton, was engaged at the time specified in the complaint in the performance of various contracts involving earth-moving in the construction, principally, of roads and dams. He was associated in this work, in the manner afterwards discussed, with Fred Galante of Visalia. In the course of the construction of a dam in foothill territory, one of the workmen negligently started a fire; he did not succeed in extinguishing it, and the blaze spread to neighboring lands causing damages in the following amounts: To R. E. Southward and Gladys Southward the sum of $7,700; to K. C. Barlow, Inc. $5,600; to K. C. Barlow, individually, $1,750, and to Maud G. Ivers $350. All of these persons brought suit against Mr. Benton in Mariposa County and, by consent, got judgment against him for their damages.

Thereafter, Mr. Benton and the enumerated parties brought the current action as coplaintiffs against The Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, a corporation (hereinafter sometimes referred to as Aetna), and Edward G. Leap, its Merced general agent, claiming that they were entitled to recover against the surety company, or in the alternative against Mr. Leap, by virtue of a…