Acme Contracting, Limited v. Toltest, Incorporated

370 F. App'x 647
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMarch 24, 2010
Docket08-2072, 08-2289
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 370 F. App'x 647 (Acme Contracting, Limited v. Toltest, Incorporated) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Acme Contracting, Limited v. Toltest, Incorporated, 370 F. App'x 647 (6th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

ALAN E. NORRIS, Circuit Judge.

The consolidated appeals in this diversity action involve (1) a contract dispute between plaintiff-appellee Acme Contracting, Ltd. (“Acme”), a contractor, and defendants-appellants TolTest, Inc., also a contractor, and Berkley Regional Insurance Company, TolTest, Ine.’s surety (collectively “TolTest”), and (2) a challenge to the issuance of a writ of garnishment by the district court following the entry of judgment in the contract dispute. The contract dispute arose out of work TolTest subcontracted to Acme relating to the demolition of and subsequent site work on two buildings located at the Georgia Technical Institute Nanotechnology Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia. After conducting a bench trial, the district court entered a money judgment of $2,096,876.21 in favor of Acme. 1 The district court subsequently issued a writ of garnishment on the money judgment and denied TolTest’s motion to stay execution of the writ. Tol-Test appeals the district court’s judgment insofar as it awards Acme delay damages for breach of contract and damages for quantum meruit. 2 For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court’s judgment with respect to Acme’s entitlement to an award of damages, but we remand for further proceedings on the very, limited issue of the calculation of quantum meruit damages (for time and materials grading and shoring work) awarded outside the 01-Contract and delay damages awarded under the 01-Contract to determine whether double-counting occurred with respect to those discrete categories of damages.

I.

In April 2006, TolTest entered into a contract with Whiting-Turner Contracting Company (“Whiting-Turner”) to conduct hazardous waste abatement and demolition of the Electronic Research Building (“ERB”) and the Neely Research Reactor (“Neely Reactor”), both owned by the Georgia Institute of Technology Nanotechnology Research Center. 3 TolTest then subcontracted to Acme the portions of the Whiting-Turner contract (“Trade Contract 11000-01” or “01-Contract”) involving demolition and related site work.

The agreement between TolTest and Acme was executed on June 12, 2006 in the form of a Purchase Order P001652 (“Purchase Order”). The Purchase Order included two attachments: (1) Attachment A: Subcontractor Services Agreement Terms and Conditions, and (2) Attachment B: Scope of Work. The Purchase Order also expressly incorporated the terms of Trade Contract 11000-01. These documents comprised the entire agreement (“Agreement”) between TolTest and Acme. The Agreement provided that its terms could be altered, amended or appealed only by a duly executed written instrument.

*650 Although the Purchase Order defined Acme’s period of performance as May 30, 2006 to August 30, 2006, a “Project Schedule” prepared by TolTest and provided to Acme identified the start date of Acme’s demolition work as May 19, 2006 and the end date as July 28, 2006. Acme began demolition on June 3, 2006 and completed it on October 11, 2006.

On Februaiy 1, 2007, Acme initiated this action, asserting claims against TolTest for breach of contract and quantum meruit. 4 Relevant to this appeal are the findings of fact and conclusions of law the district court made regarding Acme’s allegations that TolTest caused multiple delays to Acme’s demolition work and failed to pay Acme for additional work that was not part of the 01-Contract. On the breach of contract claim, Acme alleged that TolTest failed to perform the required abatement work on the ERB and Neely Reactor in accordance with its own work plan, thereby delaying Acme’s demolition work, and that Acme suffered monetary damages as a result of that delay. The district court agreed. The court identified three instances of TolTest’s lack of diligence: (1) TolTest’s multiple-day suspension of abatement work in the ERB while awaiting safety inspection and clearance from authorities to resume work after TolTest’s crew caused a fire in that structure, thus delaying the start of Acme’s demolition work; (2) TolTest’s failure to secure necessary permits for removal of waste materials contained within the ERB walls that Acme demolished, which prevented Acme from moving the waste material and construction debris offsite in accordance with its planned work schedule; and (3) Tol-Test’s failure to provide sufficient staff to complete its abatement work on the Neely Reactor, which caused Acme to change the methods it used to demolish that structure. The court found that Acme incurred damages of $1,088,715.15 as a result of Tol-Test’s failure to conduct its work diligently. In reaching its judgment, the court considered and rejected TolTest’s argument that the Agreement contained provisions prohibiting Acme from recovering delay damages. The court concluded that the provisions of the Agreement purporting to limit damages for delays caused by TolTest were void as against public policy under Ohio law.

On the quantum meruit claim, Acme alleged that, at TolTest’s request, Acme performed certain grading and shoring work which was not part of the 01-Contract. TolTest did not pay Acme for the additional services rendered. The district court found that TolTest employee Wayne Lint had directed Acme to perform additional grading and shoring work that fell beyond the scope of the 01-Contract in anticipation of work that would be required under a separate subcontract, Subcontract Number 11000-04 (“04-Contract”), then under negotiation. 5 The court further found that Acme performed the additional grading and shoring work and that the parties intended Acme to be paid for this work on a time and materials (“T&M”) basis. Accordingly, the court concluded that Acme was entitled to quantum meruit damages of $399,371.87.

Based upon its findings of fact and conclusions of law, the court ruled that Acme had established by a preponderance of the evidence that it was entitled to total damages of $2,033,756.02 from the defendants. 6

*651 TolTest timely appealed. As to the breach of conduct claim, TolTest claims that the district court erred in finding that the Agreement incorporated the Project Schedule; in concluding that Ohio statutory law barred enforcement of the terms of the Agreement that limit delay damages; and in finding that Acme proved its delay damages with a reasonable degree of certainty. As to the quantum meruit claim, TolTest contends that the district court erred in finding that Acme performed grading and shoring work outside the scope of the Agreement and in finding that Acme proved its quantum meruit damages with a reasonable degree of certainty.

II.

This appeal from a judgment following a bench trial involves both questions of fact and questions of law. We review the district court’s factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. Pressman v. Franklin Nat’l Bank, 384 F.3d 182, 185 (6th Cir.2004); Fed.R.Civ.P. 52

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370 F. App'x 647, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/acme-contracting-limited-v-toltest-incorporated-ca6-2010.