Court Opinion

ID: 9858374
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 16:21:08.903485+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:54:04.310740
License: Public Domain

WALKER, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. Paragraph 6 of the bond in the present case provides:
6. The parties execute this bond with the intent to comply with the Hardeman Act, Article 5472d, T.R.C.S.
The specifications set out in Section 8 of Article 5472d are stated in the alternative, and the section plainly covers and includes any bond that is either (1) furnished and filed in attempted compliance with the Hardeman Act, or (2) by its express terms evidences an intent to comply with the Act. It is clear then that the section does not apply only to bonds in amounts at least approaching those required by the Act. The legislative mandate is not limited to bonds whose provisions are similar in most respects to those set out in the statute. These might be relevant considerations in determining whether a bond was “furnished and filed in attempted compliance with the Article,” but that is not the question here. Regardless of the penal amount or any other provision of the bond in the present case, the parties stated in so many words that they intended to comply with the statute. The Legislature has declared in plain and unequivocal language that “any bond . . . which by its express terms evidences its intent to comply with this Article shall in either event be construed to effectuate such intention and all rights and remedies on such bond shall be enforceable in the same manner and under the same conditions and limitations as the bond provided for in this Article.” Any bond! And yet the Court holds that the statute applies not to “any bond” but only to bonds in amounts and with provisions not too different from those required by the Act.
The principle declared by Section 8 is not strange to our law. For many years the courts have been holding, without the aid of a legislative directive, that a statute which provides for the giving of a bond becomes a part of the bond. See 12 Am. *404Jur.2d, Bonds, § 26. The fact that the penal amount of the bond in the present case is substantially less than the original contract price is not of controlling importance. By reading the provisions of the statute into the bond, the surety may be held liable for more than the amount stated in the bond. Grimes v. Bosque County, Tex.Civ.App., 240 S.W.2d 511 (wr. ref. n. r. e.).
The bond in the present case satisfies every essential requirement of Section 8. In my opinion we should obey the plain statutory mandate and hold that all rights and remedies of the parties are governed by the provisions of Article 5472d. Unless that is done in this and other cases, the parties to the bond as well as laborers, ma-terialmen, and subcontractors will be deprived of the protection the Legislature has declared they shall have under “any bond” which by its express terms evidences an intent to comply with Article 5472d. I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals.
GREENHILL, C. J., joins in this dissent.