Facts
- Joe Webb, an employee at a lumber mill, was clearing an upper floor by dropping heavy pine blocks to the ground below.
- As Webb was about to drop a block, he saw J. Greeley McGowin standing directly beneath where it would land and would likely be killed or seriously injured if Webb released it.
- To prevent harm to McGowin, Webb held the block and fell with it to divert its path, successfully avoiding injury to McGowin.
- Webb suffered severe injuries, including a broken leg and arm and substantial permanent disability, leaving him unable to perform physical or mental labor.
- About four months later, McGowin agreed to pay Webb $15 every two weeks for the rest of Webb’s life and made those payments for roughly eight years, until McGowin’s death.
- After McGowin died, the executors of his estate stopped making the payments, and Webb sued to recover unpaid installments and enforce the continuing obligation.
Issues
- Whether a promisor’s later promise to compensate a promisee for a past, unrequested life-saving act is supported by consideration when the promisor received a material benefit and the promisee suffered serious injury.
- Whether “moral obligation” coupled with a material or pecuniary benefit can supply consideration sufficient to make the subsequent promise enforceable against the promisor’s estate.
Decision
- The Alabama Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s sustaining of demurrers and the resulting judgment of nonsuit.
- The court held the amended complaint stated a cause of action because the promisor’s receipt of a material benefit made the subsequent promise enforceable.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings.
- The Alabama Supreme Court denied certiorari, leaving the appellate decision in effect.
Legal Principles
- A past act is generally not consideration for a later promise, and a purely moral obligation alone does not create contractual liability.
- A subsequent promise may be enforceable when the promisee’s prior act conferred a substantial material or pecuniary benefit on the promisor, supporting the promise as supported by consideration.
- Preservation of a person’s life and bodily safety can constitute a material benefit with pecuniary value for consideration analysis.
- Serious detriment to the promisee incurred in conferring the benefit reinforces the existence of consideration supporting the later promise.
- A later promise to pay for services rendered may be treated as implying a prior request as a matter of law in appropriate circumstances, supporting enforcement.
Conclusion
The court enforced a promisor’s later promise to make lifetime payments where the promisee’s earlier life-saving act conferred a concrete material benefit on the promisor and caused grave injury to the promisee, treating the resulting moral obligation as sufficient consideration to bind the promisor’s estate.