The Unintended Cost of a Building Delay
A construction dispute over the Gottstein Building leads to a rare courtroom victory for the defendants against a major contractor.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The case of Pullis Bros. vs. M. & K. Gottstein, which has been on trial for several days before Judge Hanford in the United States court, resulted in a verdict for the defendant for $745.95. The plaintiffs sued for unpaid ironwork, but the defendants claimed that failure to deliver materials promptly and unfitness of the materials when delivered caused significant damage. The defendants' testimony was to the effect that materials for the Gottstein building, at the corner of Front and Columbia streets, should have been delivered by August 1, 1889, but did not arrive until December. This delay prevented the building’s completion until June 1890, rather than January. Furthermore, the ironwork did not match specifications and required expensive alterations. The jury found for the defendants, awarding them $745.95.
“The defendants claimed that although they nominally owed Pullis Bros. nearly $700... that the damage sustained by them by the plaintiff's failure to deliver promptly... more than counterbalanced this.”
This 1893 construction dispute mirrors the frustrations of modern developers and business owners today, where delays and supply chain failures often lead to costly litigation. The Gottstein building site at the corner of First and Columbia remains a core part of the Pioneer Square historic district, still echoing the city's early economic frictions.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.