Anderzhon/Architects, Inc. v. 57 Oxbow II Partnership

553 N.W.2d 157, 250 Neb. 768, 1996 Neb. LEXIS 174
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 27, 1996
DocketS-94-575
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 553 N.W.2d 157 (Anderzhon/Architects, Inc. v. 57 Oxbow II Partnership) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderzhon/Architects, Inc. v. 57 Oxbow II Partnership, 553 N.W.2d 157, 250 Neb. 768, 1996 Neb. LEXIS 174 (Neb. 1996).

Opinion

Fahrnbruch, J.

In this litigation, Anderzhon/Architects, Inc. (Anderzhon), seeks payment from the defendants, 57 Oxbow II Partnership (Oxbow) and Michael Krill, for services Anderzhon rendered *770 to Oxbow and Krill pursuant to the terms of a standard, written form agreement, B141 of the American Institute of Architects, which was executed by all the parties.

The district court for Douglas County sustained Anderzhon’s motion for summary judgment and awarded Anderzhon judgment in the amount of $10,296.34.

Oxbow and Krill filed an appeal to the Nebraska Court of Appeals. We removed the appeal to this court’s docket pursuant to our power to regulate the caseloads of the appellate courts.

The record reflects no dispute as to any material fact. We affirm the trial court’s decision that Anderzhon is entitled to summary judgment against Krill as a matter of law.

We dismiss the appeal as it pertains to Oxbow because, at the time of filing the notice of appeal and thereafter through argument in this court, Oxbow was represented by an individual not authorized to practice law in this state.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

Restated and summarized, Krill claims that the district court erred in sustaining Anderzhon’s summary judgment motion after finding there was no written agreement between the parties fixing a design cost limitation for the project set forth in the written contract between Krill and Anderzhon.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Summary judgment is proper only when the pleadings, depositions, admissions, stipulations, and affidavits in the record disclose that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact or as to the ultimate inferences that may be drawn from those facts and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Schiffern v. Niobrara Valley Electric, ante p. 1, 547 N.W.2d 478 (1996).

In reviewing a summary judgment, an appellate court views the evidence in a light most favorable to the party against whom the judgment is granted and gives such party the benefit of all reasonable inferences deducible from the evidence. Lockard v. Nebraska Pub. Power Dist., 249 Neb. 971, 546 N.W.2d 824 (1996).

*771 FACTS

It must be noted from the outset that at all times material to these facts, Krill represented or purported to represent Oxbow as its attorney. We take judicial notice that Krill was licensed to practice law in this state at the time Anderzhon filed this lawsuit and Oxbow filed its answer.

In its district court petition, Anderzhon alleged that it entered into a written contract with Oxbow and Krill in which Anderzhon agreed to prepare documents for the design and construction of a residential apartment complex in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Anderzhon alleged that it completed the documents and that Oxbow and Krill refused to pay the contractually agreed amount of $16,062.68. The first cause of action in the petition was against Oxbow, and the second cause of action was against Krill.

Oxbow and Krill answered with an affirmative defense, alleging that Anderzhon was required to design an apartment project that could be built within a certain budget and that as designed, the project could not be built within that budget.

Anderzhon moved for summary judgment in the district court for Douglas County and at the February 11, 1994, summary judgment hearing offered three exhibits, which were received in evidence: (1) a photocopy of the original contract, (2) Anderzhon’s affidavit, and (3) Oxbow and Krill’s answers to Anderzhon’s interrogatories and answers to the request for admissions. Oxbow and Krill offered no evidence in opposition to the motion for summary judgment at the hearing. The record reflects that no affidavits in opposition to Anderzhon’s summary judgment motion were admitted into evidence prior to the court’s ruling on Anderzhon’s summary judgment motion.

The summary judgment record further reflects that Anderzhon entered into a contract with Oxbow and Krill, Oxbow’s general partner, on December 28, 1989. Anderzhon agreed to provide architectural services for Oxbow for a total basic compensation of $17,500. As to cost considerations, § 5.2.2 of the contract states in relevant part: “No fixed limit of Construction Cost shall be established as a condition of this Agreement by the furnishing, proposal or establishment of a *772 Project budget, unless such fixed limit has been agreed upon in writing and signed by the parties hereto.” (Emphasis supplied.)

The summary judgment record reflects that Anderzhon fully performed the work called for in the contract. Oxbow and Krill anticipated that the construction costs of the project would be approximately $27,000 to $30,000 per unit. However, the record fails to reflect that any written agreement regarding cost considerations was signed by the parties to the contract. The plans designed by Anderzhon put the costs of construction at approximately $39,000 to $43,000 per unit.

The summary judgment record reflects that Oxbow and Krill, at the time summary judgment was entered, still owed Anderzhon a balance of $10,296.34 for services Anderzhon rendered pursuant to the December 28, 1989, agreement.

On May 10, 1994, the trial court sustained Anderzhon’s motion for summary judgment. The trial court found that (1) Anderzhon fully performed under the contract and was entitled to payment, (2) there was no written term in the contract establishing a construction budget constraint, and (3) the contract provided that no fixed limit of construction costs could be established as a condition of the contract unless agreed to in writing and signed by the parties. On June 9, 1994, Oxbow and Krill purportedly appealed from the trial court’s order.

On February 28, 1995, after the case was pending on appeal before this court, Oxbow and Krill moved to amend the bill of exceptions to include an affidavit of John Hoelzel, a general partner in Oxbow. The trial court on February 28 ordered that “the Affidavit of John H. Hoelzel be received in evidence (as it was indeed considered by the Court in ruling on the Summary Judgment motion herein) and made part of the Amended Bill of Exceptions in this case.”

ANALYSIS

Initially, we take judicial notice that since April 13, 1993, Krill has been an inactive member of the Nebraska State Bar Association and not authorized to practice law in this state.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 7-101 (Reissue 1991) provides:

*773

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Bluebook (online)
553 N.W.2d 157, 250 Neb. 768, 1996 Neb. LEXIS 174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderzhonarchitects-inc-v-57-oxbow-ii-partnership-neb-1996.