B & C Elec. v. East Baton Rouge School Bd.

849 So. 2d 616, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1350, 2003 WL 21042996
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 9, 2003
Docket2002 CA 1578
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 849 So. 2d 616 (B & C Elec. v. East Baton Rouge School Bd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
B & C Elec. v. East Baton Rouge School Bd., 849 So. 2d 616, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1350, 2003 WL 21042996 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

849 So.2d 616 (2003)

B & C ELECTRIC, INC.
v.
EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL BOARD.

No. 2002 CA 1578.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

May 9, 2003.

*617 E. Wade Shows, Carlos A. Romanach, Baton Rouge, for Plaintiff/Appellant, B & C Electric, Inc.

Tina Dennis Darensbourg, Kenneth F. Sills, Baton Rouge, for Defendant/Appellee, East Baton Rouge Parish School Board.

Before: CARTER, C.J., WHIPPLE and CIACCIO,[1] JJ.

*618 WHIPPLE, J.

This is an appeal by plaintiff, B & C Electric, Inc. ("B & C"), from a judgment of the trial court maintaining peremptory exceptions raising the objection of no cause of action filed by defendant, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board ("the School Board"). For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On August 31, 2001, B & C filed a petition requesting that preliminary and permanent injunctions issue, and that a declaratory judgment be rendered in its favor and against the School Board. Specifically, B & C requested that the court nullify the School Board's award of Bid # 49-01 to Charlie's Generator and Starter Repair Service ("Charlie's") and instead order the School Board to award the bid to B & C.

According to B & C's petition, on March 12, 2001, the School Board solicited quotes for alternator and starter repairs to be performed from March of 2001 through June 30, 2001. On March 15, 2001, A. Michael Babin, owner of B & C, allegedly notified D. Anthony Rubin, supervisor of purchasing for the School Board, that the specifications were unclear. Rubin allegedly then advised Babin to return the bid and he would send out revised specifications. That same day, Babin returned the bid.

B & C further alleged that on March 16, 2001, Babin was contacted by an employee of the School Board requesting assistance from him in revising the bid specifications and informing Babin that the School Board would send him a new request for bid. The School Board did not revise the previously issued March 12, 2001 request for bids, and on April 17, 2001 Babin received a letter from Rubin notifying Babin that Alternator and Starter Proposal #9872 had been awarded to Charlie's.

The petition further alleged that on June 12, 14, and 19, 2001, the School Board issued another request for proposals for alternator and starter repairs to be performed from July 1, 2001 through June 30, 2002 with an option to renew the contract for one additional year, identified as Bid # 49-01. The bid proposal form prepared in connection with this bid required the bidder to indicate whether it was a corporation, partnership, or individual and also contained a preferential clause for Louisiana-bidders provision, pursuant to LSA-R.S. 38:2251(A) and (H). B & C was one of three alleged bidders and specifically claimed a Louisiana preference pursuant to LSA-R.S. 38:2251. B & C alleged in its petition that the bid submitted by Charlie's was not in compliance with Section 1.6 of the Request for Proposals because: (1) Charlie's bid failed to fill out the Bidder Qualification portion of the bid proposal form; (2) Charlie's bid was scratched through with one unit price altered by a hand-written notation to lower the price accompanied by the initials, "DAR," without which, B & C would have been the lowest bidder; and (3) Charlie's bid did not claim a Louisiana preference.

According to the petition, in June of 2001, Babin and Rubin again exchanged correspondence, allegedly confirming that the bid would be awarded to one supplier based on the lowest total bid for alternators and starters combined. On July 3, 2001, B & C received notice that the proposal ultimately had been awarded to Charlie's. According to B & C, the award of bid to Charlie's violated the provisions of LSA-R.S. 38:2251, the Louisiana preference *619 statute, which required the School Board to award Bid #49-01 to B & C.

On September 28, 2001, the School Board filed an exception of no cause of action. By judgment dated December 14, 2001 the trial court granted the exception, but gave B & C thirty days to amend its petition. B & C amended its original and supplemental petition by filing a "Second Supplemental and Amending Petition" on January 11, 2002, alleging its entitlement to recovery under the theory of detrimental reliance. The School Board then filed a second exception of no cause of action. The trial court maintained the second exception of no cause of action by judgment dated May 14, 2002, stating in its written reasons that the petition failed to state a cause of action under the Louisiana public bid laws because an invitation for bids for repair services is not governed by the public bid law. The court reasoned that the petition further failed to state a cause of action based on the theory of detrimental reliance, as B & C made no claim in its petition that the School Board made a promise that B & C would receive the service contract.

B & C appeals, contending the trial court erred in maintaining the School Board's peremptory exceptions pleading the objection of no cause of action.

DISCUSSION

The function of an exception of no cause of action is to test the legal sufficiency of the petition by determining whether the law affords a remedy on the operative facts alleged in the pleading. Jackson v. State of Louisiana, Through the Department of Corrections, 2000-2882, p. 3 (La.5/15/01), 785 So.2d 803, 806. No evidence may be introduced to support or controvert the objection that the petition fails to state a cause of action. LSA-C.C. art. 931. Therefore, the court reviews the petition and accepts well-pleaded allegations of fact as true, and the issue at trial of the exception is whether, on the face of the petition, the plaintiff is legally entitled to the relief sought. Jackson, 2000-2882 at pp. 3-4, 785 So.2d at 806. Furthermore, the facts shown in any annexed documents must also be accepted as true. Cardinale v. Stanga, XXXX-XXXX, p. 3 (La. App. 1st Cir.9/27/02), 835 So.2d 576, 578.

In reviewing a trial court's ruling sustaining an exception of no cause of action, the reviewing court conducts a de novo review because the exception raises a question of law and the lower court's decision is based only on the sufficiency of the petition. City of New Orleans v. Board of Commissioners of the Orleans Levee District, 93-0690, p. 29 (La.7/5/94), 640 So.2d 237, 253. The burden of demonstrating that no cause of action has been stated is upon the exceptor. Cardinale v. Stanga, XXXX-XXXX at pp. 3-4, 835 So.2d at 578. Any doubts are resolved in favor of the legal sufficiency of the petition. Lambert v. Riverboat Gaming Enforcement Division, 96-1856, p. 4 (La.App. 1st Cir.12/29/97), 706 So.2d 172, 175, writ denied, 98-0297 (La.3/20/98), 715 So.2d 1221.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

In its first assignment, B & C contends that the trial court erred in finding that its original petition and supplemental and amending petition failed to state a cause of action and erred in maintaining the School Board's peremptory exception pleading the objection. B & C argues that its petitions properly alleged that the School Board violated certain provisions of Louisiana's public bid law, LSA-R.S. 38:2211, et seq., by awarding the bid proposal to a competing bidder, Charlie's; and, further, that unlike B & C's bid, Charlie's bid did not claim a "Louisiana Preference" pursuant to LSA-R.S. *620 38:2251.[2]

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849 So. 2d 616, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1350, 2003 WL 21042996, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/b-c-elec-v-east-baton-rouge-school-bd-lactapp-2003.