GEORGE M. MANN v. VIRGINIA B. CLOWSER AND JOHN A. CLOWSER, 190 Va. 887

Summary

The contractor verbally agreed to construct a building for the property owners and filed a lien to secure the sums due him. The contractor obtained a pro confesso judgment on the lien after the property owners failed to pay him. Except for the judgment on the lien, all other decrees were set aside based on the property owners' petition for a rehearing, which was founded on allegations that they had a newly discovered defense and that the contractor breached his contract. After the rehearing, judgment was entered for the property owners. The court held that the rehearing petition was the proper method to obtain relief because the decrees that were set aside had not been final decrees; further action was required to afford the contractor complete relief. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the rehearing petition. However, the court found that the jury instruction on the contractor's liability was erroneous because it made the contractor the guarantor of any ...