Case Title: Tait & Co. v. D. Diamond Corp.

Citation: 228 Or. 602, 365 P.2d 883

Docket Number: 

State: oregon

Court: Oregon Supreme Court

Date: 1961-11-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
Affirmed November 1, 1961.
Bert S. Gooding, Portland, argued the cause for the appellant. With him on the briefs were John R. Gilbertson and Stanley R. Church, Portland.
Howard M. Dupuy, Jr., Portland, argued the cause for the respondents. With him on the brief was John Morton Coke, Portland.
Before McALLISTER, Chief Justice, and SLOAN, O'CONNELL, GOODWIN and BRAND, Justices.
AFFIRMED.
SLOAN, J.
The following statement of the nature of this case, *603 the issue presented and the essential facts alleged are taken from the statement of the case contained in appellant's brief:
The trial court sustained a demurrer to plaintiff's second amended and supplemental complaint. When *604 plaintiff declined to plead further, judgment was entered for defendants. Plaintiff appeals.
We must affirm the judgment. The cases of Parker v. Jeffery, 1894, 26 Or 186, 37 P 712, and Pankey v. National Surety Company, 1925, 115 Or 648, 239 P 808, preclude plaintiff's recovery in this case. It would be necessary for us to overrule these cases in order to sustain plaintiff's pleading.
We recognize that there is respectable authority that has been critical of the rule followed by this court. Corbin, in his valuable work on Contracts says that the minority rule, which we have followed, should be repudiated and that:
The trouble with an outright repudiation of our former decisions is that an untold number of surety contracts have been entered into in reliance upon the unequivocal holdings of this court. We must assume that to now repudiate the rule, except on a prospective basis, would result in substantial damage to persons who have relied thereon. Nor can we judge the *605 repercussions that could occur within the construction industry by an abrupt reversal of the rule. We are certain that facts not available to us should be considered. It is a problem that can but be solved by legislative study and action.
Judgment affirmed.