Pacific Wood & Coal Co. v. Oswald

SLOSS, J.

This action was brought upon a bond accompanying a contract for road work to be done under the “Roa& District Improvement Act of 1907.” (Stats. 1907, p. 806.) A demurrer to the complaint was sustained, and, the plaintiff declining to amend, judgment was entered in favor of the defendants. From this judgment the plaintiff appeals.

The act to which we have referred is one authorizing the improvement of roads and streets outside of incorporated cities or towns, and the assessment of the cost upon the lands within a district to be fixed by the board of supervisors of the county. The procedure is, in its main features, similar to that provided by the Vrooman Act. (Stats. 1885, p. 147.) By section 9 it is provided that before entering upon the contract the contractor shall execute and file a bond, running to the county, in an amount not less than one-half of the contract price, “conditioned for the faithful execution of the contract by the party contracting to do the work, and the payment by him for all labor and materials furnished for or in the doing of the work. . . . Such bond shall inure as well to the benefit of any and all persons furnishing labor or materials for the work as to the county.”

In this connection mention should also be made of “An act to secure the payment of the claims of materialmen, mechanics, or laborers, employed by contractors upon state, municipal or other public work.” (Stats. 1897, p. 201, amended Stats. 1911, p. 1422.) The statute of 1897 is one requiring every person to whom is awarded a contract for

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work for the state or by any county, city and county, city, town, or district, to file a bond in not less than half the contract price, providing that if the contractor “fails to pay for any materials or supplies furnished for the performance of the work contracted to Tie done, or for any work or labor done thereon of any kind, that the sureties will pay the same, in an amount not exceeding the sum specified in the bond.” It will be noted that while the act of 1897 undertakes to secure payment for labor, materials, or

supplies

furnished for the performance of the work, the Road District Improvement Act of 1907 exacts a bond covering labor and materials merely. The bond here sued upon contains all of the. provisions required by the Road District Improvement Act. It contains, in addition, a provision that if the contractor “fails to pay for any materials or supplies furnished for the said work,” the sureties on the bond will pay the same.