Ferrier v. Commercial Steel Corp.

FOX, J.

Plaintiffs sought to recover the reasonable value for work performed for defendants in laundering, ironing,

[425]

and removing ink imprints from some 210,000 cotton bags that had been damaged in a flood (see

Simon

v.

Bemis Bros. Bag Co.,

131 Cal.App.2d 378 [280 P.2d 528]). They alleged the reasonable value of the work and labor performed was $7,500, of which only $1,000 had been paid.

In their answer defendants alleged that the processing of these bags was pursuant to a written contract in which plaintiffs agreed to do the work in question for .029 cents per pound; that the weight of these bags was 47,550 pounds; that the total charge therefor was $1,378.95 and that they had paid $1,000 on said account leaving a balance due of $378.95.

The trial court found there was a written contract between the parties for the processing of these bags which included “washing, extracting, drying and bundling” for two and nine tenths cents per pound, and that while plaintiffs were performing this contract “defendants requested plaintiffs to remove ink from any of the sacks having ink-imprints thereon and to iron said sacks” and that defendants agreed to pay plaintiffs the reasonable value for such additional work, which the court found to be $137.90. The court thereupon rendered judgment for plaintiffs for $516.85, being the balance of $378.95 due under the contract plus $137.90 representing the reasonable value of the extra work. Plaintiffs appeal from this judgment.

Bight certificates, issued by a public weighmaster, were received in evidence to show the weight of the bags. They aggregate 47,550 pounds.

Mr. Kirshbaum, who had been in the industrial laundry business for 12 years and operated laundries in Los Angeles, Fresno, San Jose, South San Francisco, and Vallejo, California, and who bid on this particular laundering job, testified that the prevailing rate in Los Angeles at that time “for washing, extracting, drying and bundling sacks of the character of those involved in this action” was “between 3 and 4 or 4% cents” per pound for that volume. He also testified that an additional 3 per cent should be added for removing ink imprints from the sacks and 7 per cent for ironing or pressing them.