National Surety Co. v. Lincoln County

The defendant in error entered into a contract with the Coast Bridge Company, whereby the latter was to construct á bridge across the Kootenai river at Rexford, Mont., a swift mountain stream more than 400 feet wide. The bridge was to be for highway purposes, to be 18 feet in floor width, to consist of two spans each 220 feet long, supported, by a central pier. The bridge company agreed to provide all material and labor and to build the bridge in a good, workmanlike, and substantial manner, “so as to make it a perfect bridge, according to the plans and specifications.” The bridge company was to furnish the plans and specifications. The bridge was completed and paid for late in the fall of 1912, and early in the spring of 1913 the central pier was undermined so that it overturned and the bridge fell. The loss was total. The defendant in error brought an action against the bridge company and the National Surety Company, the plaintiff in error, to recover the sum of $30,000, the penal sum of the surety company’s bond. The case was tried before the court, ■ a jury trial having been waived. The court reached the conclusion' that the piles of the center pier were not driven in…