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274 S.C. 272

262 S.E.2d 879

Black v. Freeman

Supreme Court of South Carolina

Decided February 6, 1980

Supreme Court of South Carolina · decided 1980-02-06

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“[w]here the terms of a contract are clear and unambiguous as a matter of law, its construction is for the court.”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including Scottsdale Ins. Co. v. GS Thadius LLC, State Farm Fire & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Sproull

Relies on Garrett Ex Rel. Garrett v. Pilot Life Insurance · Proffitt v. Sitton · Hutson v. Herndon

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1980-02-06

How this case has been cited

Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently July 2018

5 state decisions

401980199020002010decided

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.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Ness, Justice:

¶1 This appeal is from an order granting a directed verdict in favor of respondent Black against appellant Freeman. We reverse.

¶2 Freeman employed Black to perform carpentry work on his house at the contract price of “$2.50 per sq. ft. $2.00 unfinished.” There was no specification as to the number of square feet upon which respondent’s total compensation was to be based. Black .demanded payment based upon the entire square footage and Freeman argues respondent was entitled to payment only upon the heated space.

¶3 The sole issue is whether the trial court erred in granting respondent’s motion for a directed verdict. Where the terms of a contract are clear and unambiguous as a matter of law, its construction is for the court. Proffitt v. Sitton, 244 S. C. 206, 136 S. E. (2d) 257 (1964); Hutson v. Herndon, 243 S. C. 257, 133 S. E. (2d) 753 (1963). Where they are ambiguous, the question of the parties’ intent should be submitted to the jury. Garrett v. Pilot Life Ins. Co., 241 S. C. 299, 128 S. E. (2d) 171 (1962). The contract omitted any mention of the disputed term and the evidence was capable of more than one reasonable inference as to the parties’ intent. We hold the trial court erred in directing a verdict for respondent.

¶4 Reversed and Remanded.

Lewis, C. J., Littlejohn and Gregory, JJ., and Joseph R. Moss, Acting Associate Justice, concur.
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