A D B Commercial Construction (Louisiana) L L C v. St Charles Housing L P

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Louisiana
DecidedOctober 19, 2023
Docket2:22-cv-01083
StatusUnknown

This text of A D B Commercial Construction (Louisiana) L L C v. St Charles Housing L P (A D B Commercial Construction (Louisiana) L L C v. St Charles Housing L P) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A D B Commercial Construction (Louisiana) L L C v. St Charles Housing L P, (W.D. La. 2023).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA LAKE CHARLES DIVISION

A D B COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION CASE NO. 2:22-CV-01083 (LOUISIANA) L L C

VERSUS JUDGE JAMES D. CAIN, JR.

ST CHARLES HOUSING L P MAGISTRATE JUDGE KAY

MEMORANDUM RULING

Before the court is a breach of contract suit filed by ADB Commercial Construction (Louisiana) LLC against St. Charles Housing LP, with counterclaim by St. Charles. Docs. 1, 6. The matter came before the court for a one-day bench trial on October 10, 2023. The undersigned now issues this ruling. I. BACKGROUND

This suit arises from repair work done by ADB at St. Charles Place Apartments in Lake Charles, Louisiana, following Hurricane Laura. St. Charles Housing LP retained ADB to perform repair work on the 148-unit complex and restore it to as-was condition. The parties agreed to compensation on a cost plus ten percent basis. Work commenced in the fall of 2021. There was no comprehensive scope of work and the project was instead staged incrementally. Work was also complicated by the absence of previous plans for the complex, the amount of storm damage, additional damage from termites and a freeze in spring of 2021, permitting issues, and the owner’s decision to move water heaters and convert from gas to electric.

St. Charles employee Jennifer Duenas initially served as project manager, working with ADB construction manager Ray Clark. Invoices were submitted by ADB on the first and fifteenth of every month and generally paid in short order. In January 2022 Ms. Duenas hired Jasmin Tran to serve as an on-site assistant. At Ms. Duenas’s request, Ms. Tran began auditing ADB’s invoices and identified some discrepancies on wood counts. Ms. Tran also communicated directly with managers at Apartment Corp (corporate parent of St. Charles),

accusing ADB of overbilling and indicating that she could renegotiate pricing. A meeting took place on March 24, 2022, between Ms. Duenas, Ms. Tran, and representatives from Apartment Corp. There Ms. Tran laid out her findings and Apartment Corp decided to terminate ADB from the project, after which Ms. Duenas resigned. ADB filed suit in this court on April 25, 2022, alleging that it was owed $696,640.96

in outstanding invoices for work performed up to the time of termination. Doc. 1. Accordingly, it raised claims for breach of contract or, in the alternative, equitable estoppel, detrimental reliance, unjust enrichment, and/or quantum meruit under Louisiana law. Id. It also made a claim for attorney fees under Louisiana’s open account statute, La. R.S. 9:2781. St. Charles then countersued for breach of contract, negligence, and fraud. Doc. 6.

It alleged that ADB had overcharged for its work and that the work was substandard and incomplete, necessitating significant rework by St. Charles after ADB’s termination. Id. The matter came before the undersigned for a one-day bench trial on October 10, 2023. The court received the trial deposition of Jennifer Duenas and heard live testimony from Ray Clark, Jasmin Tran, and David Olson, who succeeded Ms. Duenas at Apartment Corp. The court also received substantial documentary evidence from the parties. Upon

consideration of the evidence and testimony, the undersigned now issues this ruling. II. FINDINGS OF FACT & CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

A. Evidence Adduced at Trial 1. Ray Clark Mr. Clark testified that he is a construction manager for ADB with over 50 years of experience in the industry. Tr., p. 3. He has handled over 200 jobs as a project manager and has worked for ADB for 11 years. Id. at 4. He acted as ADB’s project manager for the St. Charles Place Apartments project in 2021 and 2022, first meeting with Jennifer Duenas on site to submit a bid. Id. at 4–5. He described the condition of the complex as “in a lot of disarray,” with buildings partially demolished and major freeze damage to exposed plumbing after the demolition. Id. at 6. The initial scope offered by St. Charles was for roof replacement. Id. at 7. This work was complicated by uncertainty on replacement of the “doghouses,” decorative units off

the main façade, which had sustained substantial storm damage. Id. Otherwise, pricing requests came incrementally as St. Charles made decisions about what it would repair and how it would allocate insurance funds. Id. at 8–9. Efforts to define the scope of work were also limited by the fact that St. Charles did not have original structural drawings for the complex. Id. at 8. The roof was replaced and paid for on a lump sum basis but all other work was done on a unit price basis, with ten percent markup. Id. at 11; see, e.g., doc. 23, atts. 1 & 2

(electrical and plumbing quotes). Pricing was determined by the board foot of lumber, inclusive of labor, material, and additional demolition. Tr., p. 18. Accuracy of the quotes was complicated by the need for code upgrades on some aspects of the project as well as the inability to uncover all preexisting termite damage across the sixteen buildings of the complex. Id. at 15–16, 18. Additionally, St. Charles decided to convert the units from gas to electric and to change water heater locations. Id. at 19. Mr. Clark also maintained that

St. Charles never made a final decision as to other aspects of the project, such as finishes, doors, mold testing, and removal of existing sheetrock in apartments that had not already been gutted. Id. Nevertheless, Mr. Clark testified, ADB proceeded efficiently with its work and generally obtained prompt authorization and payment from St. Charles through Jennifer

Duenas. Id. at 19–21. At the same time, ADB understood that it was only committed to finish the work that was authorized. Id. at 22. Invoices were submitted twice a month, on the first and fifteenth, and ADB only billed for completed work. Id. at 21. It received payment within two to three weeks until the last two months or so of the project. Id. at 22. The slowdown in payment coincided with the arrival of Jasmin Tran in December

2021. Ms. Tran was hired to assist Ms. Duenas on the project and met with Mr. Clark every day. Id. at 24. Mr. Clark described their relationship as “good until she tried to take the project over.” Id. Mr. Clark stated that Ms. Tran had attempted to renegotiate pricing with him but that he had refused. He also referenced an email written by Ms. Tran to Ms. Duenas and Apartment Corp managers in February 2022. The email began as a response to Ms. Duenas’s question about which units at the complex were to be designated as ADA-

compliant. Doc. 23, att. 4. After providing this information, Ms. Tran stated: As Jennifer knows, I have carried out a personal physical inspection on all 121 units, the laundry and the leasing offices. I have emailed 121 individual surveys to Jennifer. During this survey I noted and am making my notes available to anyone who would like to see them as they are helpful in moving forward with the project and controlling the invoicing received by ADB. May I respectfully make the following suggestions: We have an in house meeting with regards to my findings. (Zoom is suggested). We may be in a position to renegotiate the electrical and plumbing and cleaning contracts: post the air tests carried out last month. Based on my experience of being a licensed contractor in the State of California for 30 years (now retired- but can activate my licence) my knowledge and experience can save in the region of 100k PLUS on these (quasi) contracts. A complete rewire (electrical) and a repipe in buildings 7- 16 are not necessary. Why? Because the results of the salvage survey indicate this. (Further John Boling walked some of the survey to confirm my findings). I walked some of the building with Ray to point out the unnecessary work and encouraged him that his billing should reflect my findings.

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Bluebook (online)
A D B Commercial Construction (Louisiana) L L C v. St Charles Housing L P, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/a-d-b-commercial-construction-louisiana-l-l-c-v-st-charles-housing-l-p-lawd-2023.