McCreery v. . Day

[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] [EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] The parties by their agreement indorsed on the contract of March 2, 1882, in terms annuled that contract and declared that it should be of no further effect. The claim that the annulment of the contract did not discharge Garrison's obligation under the original contract to pay his proportion of expenditures made by the plaintiffs for the constuction of the Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Chicago railroad, between the date of the contract and its annulment, depends on the intention to be deduced from the agreement of annulment, construed in light of the attending circumstances. Where a contract is rescinded while in the course of performance, any claim in respect of performance, or of what has been paid or received thereon, will ordinarily "be referred to the agreement of rescission and in general no such claim can be made unless expressly or impliedly reserved upon the rescission." (Leake on Contracts, 788, and cases cited.)

The agreement annulling the original contract recites that, the contract had been "superseded by agreements and arrangements made in lieu thereof," embodied in Garrison's letter of November 6, 1882, and the several contracts executed by the parties to that contract, and others, bearing date October 25, 1882. In ascertaining the scope of the agreement anulling the original contract, the letter and the contracts of October 25, 1882, are to be deemed incorporated into the agreement. Construing these several writings together, they plainly show that the parties intended that Garrision should be discharged from all liability under his contract of March 2, 1882, for any expenditures theretofore made, or thereafter to be made in constructing the line between Pittsburgh and Newcastle Junction. The letter was written after Garrison had received the contracts dated October 25, 1882, for execution, and declares that he will sign them on the condition, and understanding that he is not to pay anything more than Mr. Humphrey's company pays, under the plaintiff's agreement with him of April 13, 1882, "that is $150,000, and one-fourth of the cost of the road to Newcastle Junction, after that date." The agreement with Mr. Humphrey, of April 13, 1882, provided for the construction of the part of the line of the Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Chicago Railroad between Newcastle Junction and Akron, by a new corporation to be formed, and that Humphrey should pay the plaintiffs $150,000 for expenditures incurred and rights acquired on that branch of the road, prior to the making of the contract, and also one-fourth of all expenditures thereafter made in its completion. The letter goes on to state that the agreement with Mr. Humphrey was made "after consulting with me, and, as it insured my road (Wheeling and Lake Erie railroad) a line to Pittsburgh, I was ready to assent to it in place of the agreement of the second of March, and you know I have so considered it since, and that I was owner of one-fourth of the new company, all previous agreements between us being superseded. I do not want any interest in the road from Newcastle Junction to Pittsburgh. I will pay whatever Mr. Humphrey's company has paid on the agreement of the 13th April."

The clear import of the proposition of Mr. Garrison in his letter is, that he would sign the contracts of October 25, 1882, provided he should be placed in the same position in respect to the enterprise, as that occupied by the company represented by Mr. Humphrey, and be relieved from all interest in, or obligation to contribute to the construction of the part of the Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Chicago railroad between Pittsburgh and Newcastle Junction. Garrison, thereafter, executed the contracts of October 25, 1882, relating to the construction of the road between Newcastle Junction and Akron, whereby he assumed other and different obligations from those he had assumed by his contract with the plaintiffs of March 2, 1882.

The main claim in the action is to recover from Garrison's estate, under the contract of March 2, 1882, for a share of expenditures made by the plaintiffs in the construction of the part of the Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Chicago railroad between Pittsburgh and Newcastle Junction, after the date of that contract, and before the execution of the annulment agreement. The agreement annulling the prior contract is supported by an adequate consideration. The new obligation which Garrison assumed under the contracts of October 25, 1882, was alone a sufficient consideration. (City of Memphis v. Brown, 20 Wall. 289.) There was a consideration also in the mutual agreement of the parties to the prior contract (which was still executory, although in the course of performance) to discharge each other from reciprocal obligations thereunder and to substitute a new and different agreement in place thereof.

The contract of March 2, 1882, is sealed, while the agreement anulling it is unsealed. Upon this fact the plaintiffs make a point, founded on the doctrine of the common law, that a contract under seal cannot be dissolved by a new parol executory agreement, although supported by a good and valuable consideration, "for, every contract or agreement ought to be dissolved by matter of as high a nature as the first deed." (Countess of Rutland's Case, Coke, Pt. V, 25b.) The application of this rule often produced great inconvenience and injustice, and the rule itself has been overlaid with distinctions invented by the judges of the common law courts to escape or mitigate its rigor in particular cases. But in equity the form of the new agreement is not regarded, and under the recent blending of the jurisdiction of law and equity, and the right given by the modern rules of procedure in this country and in England to interpose equitable defenses in legal actions, the common law rule has lost much of its former importance. A recent English writer, refering to the effect of the common law Procedure Acts in England, says, "The ancient technical rule of the common law, that a contract under seal cannot be varied or discharged by a parol agreement, is thus practically superseded." (Leake on Contracts, 802.) Courts of equity often interfered by injunction to restrain proceedings at law to enforce judgments, covenants, or obligations equitably discharged by transactions of which courts of law had no cognizance. (2 Sto. Eq., § 1573.) It is a necessary consequence of our changed system of procedure, that whatever formerly would have constituted a good ground in equity for restraining the enforcement of a covenant, or decreeing its discharge, will now constitute a good equitable defense to an action on the covenant itself. It was one of the subtle distinctions of the common law as to the discharge of covenants by matter in pais, that although a specialty before breach could not be discharged by a parol agreement, although founded on a good consideration, nor even by an accord and satisfaction, yet after breach the damages, if unliquidated, could be discharged by an executed parol agreement, because, as was said, in the latter case the cause of action is founded "not merely on the deed, but on the deed and the subsequent wrong." (Broom's Legal Maxims, 848, and cases cited.) The absurd results to which the common law doctrine sometimes led is illustrated by the case of Spence v. Healey (8 Exch. 668), in which it was held that a plea to an action on covenant for the payment of a sum certain, that before breach defendant satisfied the covenant by the delivery to, and acceptance by the plaintiff, of goods, machinery, etc., in satisfaction, was bad, Martin, B., saying, "I am sorry I am compelled to agree in holding that the plea is bad. It is difficult to see the correctness of the reason upon which the rule is founded." I suppose there can be no doubt that the facts presented by the plea in the case of Spence v. Healey would have constituted a good ground for relief in equity. The technical distinction between a satisfaction before or after breach, seems to have been disregarded in this state, and a new agreement by parol, followed by actual performance of the substituted agreement, whether made and executed before or after breach, is treated as a good accord and satisfaction of the covenant. (Fleming v. Gilbert, 3 John. 530; Lattimore v. Harsen, 14 id. 330; Dearborn v.Cross, 7 Cow. 48; Allen v. Jaquish, Cowen, J., 21 Wend. 633.) So also, a new agreement, although without performance, if based on a good consideration, will be a satisfaction, if accepted as such. (Kromer v. Heim, 75 N.Y. 574, and cases cited.)

In the present case it may be justly said, that when the agreement annulling the contract of March 2, 1882, was executed, there had been no breach by Garrison of his covenant therein, as he had not been called upon by the plaintiffs to pay his share of the construction account. But it was the plain intention of the parties that the new arrangement, then entered into, should be a substitute for the liability of Garrison, present and prospective, under the contract of March 2, 1882. The transaction constituted a new agreement in satisfaction of the prior covenant, and was accepted as such. Moreover, it admitted by the reply that the contracts of October 25, 1882, were carried out. It is a case, therefore, of an executory parol contract, made in substitution of the prior sealed contract, afterwards fully executed, which clearly, under the authorities in this state, discharged the prior contract.

In respect to the claim to recover interest during the time the payment of the $150,000 was delayed, it is a sufficient answer that the complaint admits that the principal sum was fully paid prior to September 13, 1882. The claim for interest did not survive, there being no special circumstances to take the case out of the general rule. (Cutter v. Mayor,etc., 92 N.Y. 166, and cases cited.)

We are of opinion that the facts admitted in the pleadings disclose that there was no right of action and that the complaint, for this reason, was properly dismissed.

The judgment should therefore be affirmed.

All concur.

Judgment affirmed.