Hunt v. United States
Headline: Court reverses lower ruling and allows a contractor’s estate to recover payment for extra mail route work ordered by postal officials, even though a subcontractor actually performed the service.
Holding: The Court held that the original contractor and his estate may recover payment from the Government for extra mail service ordered by postal officials, even though a subcontractor performed the work.
- Lets named contractors or their estates recover payment for extra postal work ordered by officials.
- Prevents the Government from avoiding payment by pointing to subcontractor performance.
- Confirms payment belongs to the contractor unless written consent to sublet exists.
Summary
Background
A contractor named William Weighel entered a four-year written contract with the United States to carry mail on a Chicago route beginning July 1, 1895. Before the work began, Weighel agreed in writing that Ezra J. Travis would perform the contract for a smaller share of the pay. The Post Office Department knew Travis was doing the work, paid the full contract amount to Weighel, and treated Travis as a subcontractor in practice. Later, postal officials ordered additional service to and from streetcars; Travis performed that extra service while Weighel protested and said he would demand extra compensation.
Reasoning
The central question was whether Weighel (and later his estate) could recover payment from the Government for the extra service even though Travis did the work. The Court explained that the Government kept its contractual relationship with Weighel, addressed orders and payments to him, and had not given written consent to an effective subletting. The opinion relied on earlier decisions dealing with the same contract language and concluded that payment for the extra service belonged to the named contractor. On that basis the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Claims and sent the case back for further proceedings consistent with this ruling.
Real world impact
The decision means that when the Government orders extra work under a named contract, the right to payment stays with the named contractor or that contractor’s estate, even if someone else actually performed the work without formal Departmental consent. Contractors and government payors should not assume informal subcontracting shifts the Government’s payment obligation. The case was reversed and returned to the lower court for further action.
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