Nolan v. Whitney
Court of Appeals of New York
88 N.Y. 648 (1882)
Relevant factsFree
Nolan (plaintiff) contracted to do mason work for Whitney (defendant), with final payment conditioned on an architect's certificate confirming satisfactory completion; Nolan substantially finished the work, subject only to trivial plastering defects, but the architect refused to issue the certificate, and Whitney withheld final payment. The trial court found for Nolan, deducting $200 for the trivial defects, and Whitney appealed.
IssueFree
Whether a building contractor must construct the building to exact contract specifications in order to substantially recover the contract price.