Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Chapel Hill Independent School District

860 S.W.2d 667, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 2226, 1993 WL 300806
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 10, 1993
DocketNo. 12-91-00073-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 860 S.W.2d 667 (Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Chapel Hill Independent School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Chapel Hill Independent School District, 860 S.W.2d 667, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 2226, 1993 WL 300806 (Tex. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

HOLCOMB, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment in a construction case, after a trial to the court.

Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. (hereafter “Aetna”), the former surety, indemnitee, and assignee of claims of Utley-James, Inc. (hereafter “Utley-James”), the general contractor, brought suit against Chapel Hill Independent School District (hereafter “Chapel Hill”) to recover for losses from delays caused by Chapel Hill in the amount of $384,-708, damages in the amount of $65,688 in inflation costs caused by Chapel Hill not releasing certain property in a timely manner, $79,180 in unpaid Change Order Requests, the balance due under the contract in the amount of $87,649, and attorney’s fees.

Chapel Hill denied that it owed anything, except $25,000 retained, as required by the contract, until the contractor provided proof that all subcontractors’ debts had been paid and no liens remained on the property. In its amended answer, Chapel Hill countered that it had a claim against Utley-James for $57,000, which agents of Utley-James and Aetna had admitted it owed but would not amend its pleadings to reflect. Therefore, Chapel Hill contended it should be awarded attorney’s fees for having to assert the counter-claim and defend against the allegations.

The trial court denied Aetna all relief except the $25,000, and granted Chapel Hill its counter-claim and requested attorney’s fees of $101,565. We will affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Utley-James, in late 1983, was the low bidder for a contract for construction of new buildings and additions to the Chapel Hill School complex. The contract between Ut-ley-James and Chapel Hill was for the building of a new vocational building, a new Middle School, a new High School, and the re[669]*669moval of an old elementary school and construction of a parking lot on the site. The High School would take the longest to build, and according to Utley-James’ bid, it would take 355 days. Work began on December 19,1983, with a completion date of December 10, 1984. The demolition of the old elementary school was not to begin until after the 1984-85 school year; Chapel Hill would turn the building over to Utley-James by June 5, 1985, with the parking lot to be completed by August 1,1985, for the beginning of the next school year. The initial proposal envisioned Utley-James leaving the construction site in December 1984 and returning to raze the elementary school and construct the parking lot after June 1985. However, Utley-James never left the building site, eventually turning the final buildings over to Chapel Hill on October 15, 1985, 665 days after beginning the project.

There were many changes in the specifications and designs, and Utley-James did experience many delays in the completion of this project. Chapel Hill paid for many of those changes which are not a part of this suit. As the time approached to demolish the elementary school, Chapel Hill sought assurances that the high school itself would be available for the 1985-86 school year and the class room space represented by the elementary school would not be needed and the building could be turned over to the contractor. After this construction was complete, and for reasons not relevant to this case, Utley-James went out of business and Aetna succeeded to its interests.

Aetna brings four points of error: (1) that it should have been paid for changes in the scope of the work, (2) that it suffered damages caused by delays created by Chapel Hill, (3) that Chapel Hill should not have been awarded attorney’s fees, and (4) that it, Aetna, should have been awarded its attorney’s fees. In its summary, Aetna prays this Court grant it all the relief sought in the trial court. The points of error do not follow the usual form seen in appeals in this state, but we will liberally construe them in light of the argument and prayer.1 Tex.R.App.P. 74(d) and (p); Fambrough v. Wagley, 140 Tex. 577, 169 S.W.2d 478 (1943). Because Aetna argues that Appellee provided no evidence to the contrary or had no right to recover, and because Aetna asks this Court to render judgment for Aetna, we will construe the points of error as asserting that Aetna proved its case as a matter of law. See Chapa v. Herbster, 653 S.W.2d 594 (Tex.App. — Tyler 1983, no writ).

In point of error one, Appellant argues that the contractor was not paid for work performed, reflected by seven Change Orders. Appellant argues that there was “substantial evidence” to prove the claims and “no evidence” to rebut the claims.

On the first of these, Change Order # 24, Appellant sought to recover for added roof curb frames. Appellant’s witnesses testified that a roofing subcontractor noted that the drawings it had did not show the proper amount of steel frames to support the “mechanical units” and that the subcontractor installed the additional material. Appellant introduced two exhibits, one asked for a Betterment Change Order be approved for $65202 and the other was the “Log of Extra Work.” Neither of these exhibits indicate that the architect agreed to accept responsibility for any change; in fact, the log has a notation that #24 was “not covered or approved as per SHWC [the architect].” Ap-pellee introduced a letter from the architect to Utley-James which specifically rejected the claim as the contractor’s responsibility, claiming the issue was resolved a year before, and further that Utley-James had never provided the proper back-up data to even consider the request. Thus, there is some evidence to support the trial court’s Findings of Fact 58 and 59 that Aetna had not proved the change order proposal reflected work done in addition to the contract, how much it [670]*670would have been, or that it was ever authorized as called for in the contract.

The second, Change Order #34, is for additional duct work. A subcontractor, on its own form, gave Utley-James a change order to “modify existing ductwork in Middle School not shown on drawings,” which cost $468.75. Appellant points to this evidence and the Log of Extra Work (Plaintiffs Exhibit 87) as proof as a matter of law that the work was not covered by the contract, that an additional $539 (the amount of the claim) was due Utley-James, and that the change order had been approved as required by the contract. Appellee presented evidence that it was never clear what was being claimed and that there was no supporting documentation for the claim. There was evidence which raised a fact issue so that Appellant did not prove the issue as a matter of law.

The third, Change Order #58, was for a catch basin that was not in the plans. Appellant points this Court to Plaintiffs Exhibit 87 to show the work was done and approved by Chapel Hill. While the Log of Extra Work, Exhibit 87, is a management tool used by Utley-James for its own purposes, even it shows that the issue was still to be negotiated. This is not proof that the work was done and approved as a matter of law.

The fourth, Change Order # 80, is a claim for the additional cost to insulate light fixtures to meet fire safety codes. The insulation was shown on the plans but was not clearly written out in the specifications. Appellant produced evidence that this was not a usual way to prepare specifications and that most contractors would have missed the requirement for this detail.

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Bluebook (online)
860 S.W.2d 667, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 2226, 1993 WL 300806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aetna-casualty-surety-co-v-chapel-hill-independent-school-district-texapp-1993.