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315 Pa. 232

172 A 686

Lancaster v. George

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Decided April 30, 1934

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · decided 1934-04-30

Relies on Commonwealth v. National Surety Co. · Philadelphia v. Jackson & Co. · Philadelphia, to Use v. Stange

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1934-04-30

How this case has been cited

Cited by 11 later decisions — most recently May 1984

11 state decisions

40193419401950196019701980decided

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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Per Curiam,

¶1 The use-plaintiff’s claim against a surety bond was based on the rent due for a ditcher scoop leased to Frank George, who bad a contract to complete sewer improvements in Lancaster. the bond insured the faithful and prompt payment of labor and material: Act of June 23, 1931, P. L. 932, section 1905. the part of the bond in question being, “......for material furnished and labor supplied or performed in the prosecution of the work......in aid of or auxiliary to the prosecution of the said work, whether or not the said material or labor enter into and become component parts of the work or improvement contemplated by the said contract or any modification thereof......” the bond in substance follows the act.

¶2 Notwithstanding this comprehensive language, the subject of liability is labor and materials. It was held some years ago the word “material” did not include machinery, tools, or appliances used for the purpose of facilitating the work: Com. v. Nat. Surety Co., 253 Pa. 5, *234 13; Phila. v. Jackson & Co., Inc., 280 Pa. 319. This determination of the interpretation of “material,” though under a different situation, embodied its full meaning as applied to the statute and bond in question.

¶3 Rental is not a labor claim. This was decided in Com., to use of Read Corp., v. Stryker, 109 Pa. Superior Ct. 137, where the claim and condition of the bond is almost identical with the one now under consideration, and the wording of the acts similar. With this conclusion we agree.

¶4 As a matter of policy, it is necessary to confine the word “labor” in this connection to its primary meaning, and not to permit it to be so broadened as to carry the liability of a surety under these bonds to indefinite and uncontemplated lengths. Phila. v. Stange, 306 Pa. 178, as may be readily noted, does not apply.

¶5 Judgment affirmed.

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