The Original Bridge to Nowhere

We just finished the Luten Bridge case (Rockingham County v. Luten Bridge Co.) in Contracts.

Like the Kirksey case, this is another situation where the history behind the case reveals a more interesting (and complex) story.

The gist: Luten Bridge Company was hired to build a bridge by the Rockingham County commission. The county commission reneges on its promise. Why? According to my textbook:

“For some reason, feelings apparently ran high on this topic within the Comission – so high, in fact, that one of the three-member majority that voted for the Luten contract resigned his seat shortly thereafter.”

Some reason? Well, according to a Duke Law Review article, the resignation was a little more intense…

“What followed was essentially a tax revolt,” says Richman. “Farmers with pitchforks stormed the county courthouse.”

The bridge company builds the bridge anyway, even though the road to the bridge was never built. Why? My text book says that the bridge builder gambled on the commission changing its mind. Tu

rns out, according to the people at Duke:

“Meanwhile, the commissioner who resigned, and then “unresigned,” continued to meet and do county business with the two other pro-bridge commissioners. There were two separate boards, each claiming to represent Rockingham County.”

So the bridge company wasn’t as bone-headed as it appears in the textbook. The crux of the decision was actually based on the changing economic climate in the state, and not a bridge builder’s decision to build a bridge to nowhere.

“Judge Parker was active in politics before he rose to the bench, and he had deep roots in North Carolina’s pro-industrialist, pro-public improvements Republican party. The case came before him during the industrialization of most of North Carolina, and the state’s economic growth presented imminent and pressing transportation needs that the counties, at that time, had to satisfy. To do so, they have to enter into contracts with private parties. If counties are permitted to change their minds, no construction company will ever enter into contracts with them, and North Carolina won’t have any roads.”

“Ultimately, he sees that counties must be held accountable to contract law. So he finds there was a contract that cannot be rescinded. That’s the core of the opinion. Rockingham County is liable to the Luten Bridge Company.”

I wonder if my school offers a legal history course…

Photo: Joseph Yates (Bixby Creek Bridge, Monterey.)