Appalachian Floor Co. v. United States

144 Ct. Cl. 11, 1958 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 113, 1958 WL 7336
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedNovember 5, 1958
DocketNo. 287-56
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 144 Ct. Cl. 11 (Appalachian Floor Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Appalachian Floor Co. v. United States, 144 Ct. Cl. 11, 1958 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 113, 1958 WL 7336 (cc 1958).

Opinion

Opinion

per curiam:

This case was referred by the court, pursuant to Rule 45 (a), to Paul H. McMurray, a trial commissioner of the court, with directions to make findings of fact and recommendations for conclusion of law. The commissioner has done so in a report filed February 27, 1958, recommending the dismissal of plaintiff’s petition. On March 7, 1958, plaintiff filed a notice of intention to except to the report of the commissioner. Briefs were filed by plaintiff and defendant on April 11, 1958, and May 8, 1958, respectively, and on October 7, 1958, the case was submitted without argument to the court. Since the court agrees with the recommendation and findings of the commissioner, as hereinafter set forth, it hereby adopts the same as the basis of its judgment in this case. Plaintiff is therefore not entitled to recover, and its petition will be dismissed.

It is so ordered.

OPINION OP THE COMMISSIONER

The plaintiff, Appalachian Flooring Company, being the successful bidder, received a contract from the Army for laying 176,000 square feet of asphalt tile flooring in 44 barracks buildings at the New • Cumberland General Depot, United States Army, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania.

Performance under the contract was satisfactorily completed within the contract period, and plaintiff has been paid in full the original contract price, as adjusted by mutual agreement, plus an additional $2,600 based upon an increase allowed by an appropriate change order.

Plaintiff claims, in substance, that the work which it was required to do by defendant embraced certain tasks which were not specified in the invitation for bids, nor in the contract documents, and which it did not contemplate would be [13]*13required at the time it prepared and submitted its bid price, and that, because of the omission of specific reference to such tasks in the invitation for bids and the contract documents, they constituted additional work and consequently additional costs for which it now seeks compensation.

The work to be performed was described in the invitation for bids and in the contract itself, as follows:

Work to he performed: Laying a 14-inch underlayment and %-inch asphalt tile floor in 44 mobilization type barracks, including removing and replacing quarter round where required, contractor will furnish and pay for all material, equipment and labor and all permanent, temporary and incidental work, furnish all accessories and do everything that may be necessary to carry out the work specified within the intent and scope of these specifications and drawings.

Subsequent to the time of receiving the contract, plaintiff’s president and general manager (sometimes hereinafter referred to as “plaintiff”), visited the barracks and observed that 13 of the buildings were partitioned with a long corridor in the center giving off to a number of small administrative offices which were furnished with desks and typewriters, and were obviously in use at that time. He also observed that the other 31 buildings were occupied by troops and were furnished with footlockers and cots, and that each of the buildings had a recreation room with a pool table, a ping-pong table, and a barber’s chair.

Plaintiff complained to defendant’s resident engineer about the difficulties in working under the conditions which he had observed, and protested that the partitioning of the large spaces into small offices was not indicated on the contract drawings, and that the specifications contained no information that the buildings were furnished, nor that they would be occupied by personnel while the required work was under way. The resident engineer stated that all this information was available to plaintiff, if plaintiff had visited the site before submitting its bid. Plaintiff had not visited the site before submitting its bid, because it did not deem such a a visit necessary, for the reason that the plan of a barracks building (the contract drawing) showed only completely blank floor spaces, and the specifications were silent as to the [14]*14occupancy of the buildings and the necessity of moving furniture in performance of the work called for by the contract.

Thereafter, on May 10, 1955, while the work was in progress, plaintiff wrote to the contracting officer as follows:

This office has been notified by our field superintendent on the above captioned project, that work is being performed by beyond the requirements of plans and specifications such as: moving furniture and installing tile in areas with many partitions which is conflicting with drawing #700-1165.
We shall proceed with this work as you direct and a claim for additional moneys will be submitted by us at a later date.

The contracting officer’s response to this letter reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

* * * This contract calls for performance of “everything that may be necessary to carry out the work specified within the intent and scope of the specifications and drawings.”
The Post Engineer, this Depot, who has been designated to decide all questions which may arise as to the interpretation of the specifications and of drawings used and as to the fulfillment of this contract on the part of the contractor, has advised that the work being done on this contract is within the scope of the specifications and drawings.

Plaintiff subsequently filed a claim for $6,538 for work performed beyond the requirement of the contract. The contracting officer rejected plaintiff’s claim on the ground that all of the work performed was required by the contract and specifications, and the claim thereafter came before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, in Washington, D. C., on November 9,1955.

At a hearing on appeal plaintiff was represented by counsel, and gave testimony by its president and general manager. Its claim was presented in three parts, one of which was for $2,600 additional costs for labor and materials involved because of the partitioning in 13 buildings which was not revealed on the contract drawings of the floor plans; the second and third parts, in the respective amounts of $1,034 and $2,904, were presented as additional costs involved in the moving of footlockers and cots, and in the restriction [15]*15of its operations to one-half of a floor at a time because of occupancy of the premises by the military personnel. The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals sustained plaintiff as to the first part of the appeal, but denied the second and third items. Settlement of plaintiff’s claim for the $2,600 item was effected in accordance with the Board’s decision by payment of that sum to plaintiff in July 1956.

Plaintiff says that the partitioning in the 13 buildings, and the presence of furniture and personnel in the buildings, would have been equally obvious to an observer who visited the site before bidding and that because of this fact the Appeals Board was inconsistent in allowing the part of plaintiff’s claim which pertains to the partitioning, and denying the part which pertains to the presence of furniture and occupancy of the buildings. This approach to the problem is not deemed to be valid, and it is not accepted.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 Ct. Cl. 11, 1958 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 113, 1958 WL 7336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/appalachian-floor-co-v-united-states-cc-1958.