Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1939 )

‘. OFFICE OF ‘PHE A?TORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUcrIN
Boaorable Julian bZontgom.rj
State Hi hwa$ Engineer
Auafin, “OXa
!I
1940, Sor a supplemental opl
eartin, Ina. You refer UQ t
ton on this olalm, which or1
questionl
h W, B. Pope, Aaefstant
6 above request adrlsed the Hon.
lnear, that the Stats of Texas
1937, the shove opinion was reoonsiderfiid
ho Eonorabld W. B, Pope, and he again
ua that you have oonsidorable data and in-
formation in your files relative to this claim, but in view of
the raot that we cannot detonnlne quostions of faot wo will
not be oonoerned in this opinion with that Information and will
~oonfine this opinion to the iaots ea set out in the original
request and the tinding of the Board ot Arbltratlonr
8011. JUliaIt ~Ollt~Ollhy, &‘fl&O 8
Tho ~usstloa to be dsternlncd 4s whathar tho Stnto of
T:oxne 1s liable for the ootli of fto aeento vrt:on actlnC outaide
the eoope of thalr outhorlty, such autb@rity bQ,ing conferred
elthor by law or by acntreot: Thora it ncthlnc in the etntutoe
that t&o fort& tho powero arid duties eEte.i?.iG:)oot en&-Inear or
inspootor. h nlll, thefoforo, disouoo tbo Guoeti,cn only me It
porialna to tho outhorlty and ymor oqnforrod by oontrcot. It
;a ths genorul rulo thst when a Stats .ts a parby to a eontreot
with e altlton, it la subjoot to al.]. and svory ooadltlon eovsrc-
lag oontraots with ladividuale. Uortlok WJ. U. E., 94 Dall. 2. K5;
hsadlne &ml Co. ts. U. 9., ZM3 U. 6. 185, 69 L. L,d. 9071
Crook VB* u. s., 91 U. S. i%l9, E3 L. Rd. 037. But thicr rulo is
subject to oartain oxcaptlono, Sor if the State undertcok to
guaruntoe tha tldollty of lta agent6, it .would Boon bcocm
in~ol~.pob in tha ondleoe o~barraoonent, diftloulty cm4 100808,
which would bo oubvorniro to pub110 Intorest. ztory on kcpaoy,
GPO. 319. In tho oaeo of Clodselter Vn. Ztota, 00 f!. Carolina
64, 41 m. Rep. 440, Chloi Zuatloe &ith tiuotos with approval
the, folloutlna :
Whet the dootrine of rospondaat OUpQriOr,
applloablo to tho relotlon of prlnclpnl ond ny;cnt
oreatod betwoen other pmnona, does .po,! pravall
acalnat the oovorelgn in tho noosus~;ry omployznnt
of pub110 aeonto, 1s too well oat lnd iqzo~ authority
end praotlce to n4dt ‘0s oontrom k djY”‘^’ *
Vo govcmnont hcs aver held iteolf 11.eble to in-
dividuaia for tbo mlformnoo, leohso, or umuthorlzod
- of
``````~-
oxeraisc powar by ito otfioere md 8~oa~8.~’
16 ours)
I
Ae rovcolcd by the r’o6uaot, the con-plaint 18 for noto
oomlttod wcutaldo of a ‘oontrectia It 10 ~ioll sottl.od let; ttnt
statea onn be bound only by nuoh oots me ore oonr”crrsd by lclw ’
or by tha contmot. The zest reosnt oaso that bears on the quoo-.
tiou 10 that of Com?boll Eulldlna CO. VU. Stete iioed CODZI~SS~O~,
70 FCC. ,(Zd) 057. ‘~ht3 r0110d3g quotction0 818 tak00 mffi WIT-
motions indicated:
*Go thank that the enginoor hod no outhorlty
to h-elva on behalf of the atato the roCuirbaonto
in the witton aotitroot., iio undoubtedly hod no euth-
ority to enter into e now or dlfforcnt oontmot, end
it would follow that he bed no authority to nelvo the
provision8 inthlr, one* Tha oontraot aptt0iri.0a what
lion* Julian iontgomery, Qogs S
hfs dutlco nnd 3owar8 wore nrd this we0 viol1 known
to the ccntrnctor. At 18 @clsro y hl!Ld mat 1m
architoot or an&vasr In oharce OP construotlon work
Qooa not have outhorlty to waive a prov,Islon rspulr-
lng written extra work ordam.” ;3ubooatIon E2.
*Uo otata o¬ be’h&l ior tho cota or its
qngfacor boyorld tho powers ccnCorrc4 by laar or 4he
wrlttfs corGraot2 ~ub8octIon i!2.
Vhe etate cannot be hold for any auoh aotlonn
by Ito cniployees, even If true, for the rooooa that
It OUT.bo hold only on the ccntrnct end for tho cots
or ito a~3nts end ot~fioinle purnutrnt to th* cc-.ntracfL
end not Car uny unauthorized cr ~:;a.liciouo ccnciuct,
vhlch my have resultod ,in domge.” tiulmootron 50.
(UnCcraoorIng ours)
In tha 0088 of Clark County Ccnstrtiotlon Company vs.
Stats Iilahway Cocmisslon, B8 8. c’. (q!Aa3qk,, .(ct. of pppa. iip.)
the Court said:
#ti . . 50 f%kt thero IP ‘a groat oontrarffy and
confusion of oplnlons reapootin~ som phoma of the
pueotlon prssontod, howover, thore iD yructloal acre+
tent of authority that nnrono who doale or ooutracto
sltb tiubllc officials or with sub110 b&loo :zuet at
h1s ok p>rIl take notice of th,ir cutborlty nlnce they
W&O; only vrithln tha limits of ‘~-sF``)owY~or noo-
i y irqG.iod poiioro cu:)r’errod up2n ttiw by Icw.~
c iihnre it Is required by atntuta that ouch
cont%‘sholl be in wrLt:ag and the controot Itnelf
provldoa that any modIliontIon of its tormn shall be
in writing, ouch provInIon8 am cmCet.ory and cl1
ohangoa find ultcrotione aro lnotfectual and void.
Ckppollont In dsalinc nIth the Cor&soioner oi
Yubllo bonds rzao not only o!larcc& tilth knaxb%l~n of
the law end of any and all lleltotlccs plaood upon
his pco;or to make or r.odffy the contrect, but the
guotod provisions or tho contraot 1tqol.C brought
notIoe to It that all aodlfloatione, altorotlono end
chansoa ohould be In nritlng. rhoGO provfafons,uro In
lancuaee 80 olmplo, olenr and orplloit that QVQI~a.lay-
man by cursory sxomlnatlon would be sblo to fully
understand and appreolata tho ooneoquoaaeo or a dlrr-
rdggrd or vlolatlon therOof@
Bon. Julian L:oontgomery, page 4
“The foroeoinp rules to which .&&all adhere
are nelthor harsh or .inoqultablo since nnyono doal-
-inn with public ofl’lcinlo or publio bodl ca may ovofd
the oonsequsncos by strict com.pllnnce with them.
‘hey are moundad in a somd pub110 policy anti their
abrogation would invite fmud, collusion and uniiar-
ranted expcndlture of pub110 funds.” (Underscoring
A oomprehonslro dlecuaalon of tne effect or an.ageat
aotlng out&da the eoopa of his authority la found Inthe oaaa OS
hbum vs. State, 141 P. 314; the SuPreme.Court of tho State
of Washington hold aa iollovve,
“Their (the englneer’a) powere are only such aa
ara usually possessed by mere supcrvlaing engineare
and archltects;.tbat la,, to 8ee that the contract
entered into by the ownor with the contractor la Dro-
perly carried out. They are In no sense contracting
agents of the state. heading the, allegations of
annellont*s comolaint and the provlolono of the con-
t%ot and speol?lcatlona together, we think that
appellants olalm na hero pleadod amounts to nothing
more than that the engineer, and poselbly the highway
commlssloner, verblally requlred,the pcrfonnnnce of
this alleged extra work. Clearly, this would not
bind the state to-pay for suoh work, even concoding
that It Is extra work wblcb the contract contemplated
might be paid for if ordered In the mannor therein ex-
presaly provided, .ln view of the fact that neither
the highway com~lasloner nor tho cn&m?n possessed
the Dower to blnd the state In any other manner than
that-which the contraot Droscrlb?~ +.G:Xt.I.3 also plain
from the aliegaq Eiona of the complaint that the work
wa8 not direated to be done aa extra stork, but was
directed to be done by the engineer and claimed to be.
work within the contraot nhlch was to be compensated
for by the payment. of the lump Burnbid. If, a8 a
matter of fadt, the work ma extk”nork vflthln the.
terms oi the oontraot which would call for extra
oomp9nsatlon, and the, engineer or highway commlssloner
arbitrarily decided that appolianta should perform
such work aa a part ‘ot his oontraot, such Saot night
bo oause for appellant retualng ,to ao perform It wlth-
:out forfeiting ~hla rights under ,the oontraot; but. it
~uoulti not foll6w that appellant could reoover
.
ROD. Julian 'Pontgomary, pace 8
eompaneatlon for such work sftor#performlag 8m.e
when it wee not directed by the i\l~h.r;cy oozmioelonor
in the manner prbeoribod bp the oontreot. ;i,e do not _
think the alleeatlcns of the oonplaint show that the
atate hlshway board, the atate’s oontraoting agent,
in any manner dlreotcd or suthorlzed the performnco
of any uork othor than by the express terms of the
6ontreot .w (Undersoorlng oure) 1
It 18, theraforre, our oplnlon that the Stoto of Texas
1s not liable for the sots of lte agents which are ooaslltted
. outalda the sgope of l oontraot nhlohtsete~S+h their butler
end authoflty.
Trusting thet'the io’regolng i@ly answer@ your inquiry,
~urari’
Youre rery trily
Assiotant
t. .I