W. A. CHAPMAN & CO. v. MONTGOMERY WATER POWER CO.

W. A. CHAPMAN & CO. v. MONTGOMERY WATER POWER CO. (Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. December 7, 1903.) No. 1,272. 1. Contract for Building Dam — Construction — Destruction of Work before Completion. A contract for the construction of a dam Mid correctly construed by the trial court to require the loss resulting from the destruction of the dam before completion to be borne by the contractor. In Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Middle District of Alabama. See 126 Fed. 68. W. A. Gunter, Gregory E. Smith (Gaston Gunter, on the brief), and Harry T. Smith, for plaintiff in error. Edward A. Graham (Robert E. Steiner, on the brief) and Horace Stringfellow, for defendant in error. Before PARDEE, McCORMICK, and SHEEBY, Circuit Judges. [MAJORITY — PER CURIAM.] PER CURIAM. This case was decided on the pleadings. It was a suit brought by Chapman & Co., contractors, against the Montgomery Water Power Company, on a contract by which the former agreed to complete certain work of hydraulic construction in the Tallapoosa river. During the progress of the work a dam, which was part of the works to be constructed, was washed away by the river. The pleadings and exhibits raised the question, on whom should the loss resulting fall — on the plaintiffs or on the defendant? We think that the learned trial judge' construed the contract correctly in his rulings on the pleadings that, under the terms of the contract, the loss should'fall on the contractors. The judgment of the Circuit Court is therefore affirmed.