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105 Ark. 353

Thomas v. Jackson

Supreme Court of Arkansas

Decided November 18, 1912

Supreme Court of Arkansas · decided 1912-11-18

E. Jeffery, Judge; STATEMENT BY THE COURT. Appellee brought suit against appellant for a balance of $329.21, due upon a contract for the building of a bungalow in Hoxie, and for foreclosure of a mechanic’s lien.

Relies on St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co. v. Paul · Ince v. State · Mitchell v. Caplinger

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

affirmed · Decided 1912-11-18

How this case has been cited

Cited by 15 later decisions — most recently October 1975

15 state decisions

401912192019301940195019601970decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Kirby, J.,

¶1(after stating the facts). It is contended that the cause should be reversed for the failure to give said requested instructions, but we have examined same carefully, and the only two which correctly state the law were sufficiently covered by the instructions given by the court, none of which were excepted to, and no prejudice resulted from the refusal to give them.

¶2Appellant objected, it is true, to the giving of each of said instructions by the court, but he failed to preserve his exceptions by carrying them into his motion for a new trial as a ground therefor, and thereby waived the right to complain of error in the court’s ruling thereon. St. Louis & S. F. Rd. Co. v. Fayetteville, 75 Ark. 534; Burris v. State, 73 Ark. 455; McCarroll v. Stafford, 24 Ark. 224; Ray v. Light, 34 Ark. 421.

¶3He likewise waived the right to complain of error in the. admission and exclusion of evidence. Fourche River Lbr. Co. v. Bryant Lbr. Co., 97 Ark. 632; Choctaw & M. Rd. Co. v. Goset, 70 Ark. 427; St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Deshong, 63 Ark. 443; Ince v. State, 77 Ark. 418; Allen v. State, 70 Ark. 337.

¶4It is undisputed that appellant moved into the building and occupied it with his family after it was constructed, and that he still continues to do so.

¶5When work has been done substantially in compliance with the terms of the contract, or there has been an acceptance of the work by the contractee, the contractor may,' notwithstanding defects' therein, recover the contract price, less the cost of correcting such defects. A substantial performance is all that is required to authorize a recovery of the contract price, less the additional cost of a literal compliance with the contract. Mitchell v. Caplinger, 97 Ark. 281; Fitzgerald v. Laporte, 64 Ark. 84; Ark-Mo Zinc Co. v. Patterson, 79 Ark. 506; Harris v. Graham, 86 Ark. 570.

¶6Appellee was entitled to recover on the contract upon a substantial performance of it, or an acceptance of the work by the contractee, notwithstanding defects therein, the contract price, less the cost of correcting such defects. The jury only allowed $29.21 credit to appellant upon his claim of defective- and unfinished work, but the issues were fairly submitted to them by the instructions given, and they have found them in favor of the appellee upon conflicting testimony, and their-verdict will not be disturbed.

¶7Finding no prejudicial error in the record, the judgment is affirmed.

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