Brightway Services, Inc. v. Tae-Il Chun

850 So. 2d 864, 2003 La.App. 5 Cir. 281, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1792, 2003 WL 21414303
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 19, 2003
DocketNo. 03-CA-281
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 850 So. 2d 864 (Brightway Services, Inc. v. Tae-Il Chun) 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
Brightway Services, Inc. v. Tae-Il Chun, 850 So. 2d 864, 2003 La.App. 5 Cir. 281, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1792, 2003 WL 21414303 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

| .MARION F. EDWARDS, Judge.

This is an appeal from the trial court’s judgment in favor of Brightway Services, Inc., in this suit on an open account. For the following reasons, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Tae-Il Chun, doing business as Plus Insurance Agency (hereinafter referred to collectively as “Chun”), approached Brightway Services, Inc. (“Brightway”), for the purpose of having a sign awning manufactured and placed outside of Chun’s new office location in Jefferson Parish. After reviewing several options, Chun approved a final design for the sign and, on December 10, 1997, entered into a contract with Brightway. Brightway subsequently completed and installed Chun’s sign.

Shortly after the sign was installed, Chun contacted Brightway and informed them that the sign was not made according to his specifications. | ¡¡Specifically, Chun alleged that the sign in question, when lighted at night, showed the aluminum support “ribs” beneath, which obscured the lettering on the sign, making it harder to read. After Chun’s request to have the sign altered was not granted, Chun indicated that he would not pay the balance due. On March 10, 2000, Brightway filed A Petition For Suit On An Open Account in First Parish Court for the Parish of Jefferson. Chun answered the suit on March 22, 2000, and filed a reconventional demand.

Trial of the matter was held on September 30, 2002. On that date, the trial court ruled in favor of Brightway, awarding $3,129.00. The trial court dismissed Chun’s reconventional demand. Chun timely filed the present appeal.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

On appeal, Chun raises four assignments of error: 1) That the trial court erred in accepting the testimony of Brightway’s representatives that Chun had not specifically told them that he wanted a sign without “ribs” showing when lighted; 2) The trial court erred in failing to apply the proper law concerning the interpretation of contracts; 3) The trial court erred in directly questioning Chun at the conclusion of the trial without allowing Chun to complete his answer, and; 4) The trial [866]*866court erred in forming its conclusion that the lines in the photograph it had before it were caused by “ribs” when Brightway’s representatives testified that the “ribs” of the sign were before the lights and thus were not possible to observe when the sign was lighted.

In his first assignment of error, Chun asserts that the trial court erred in accepting the testimony of Brightway’s representatives that Chun had not specifically told them that he wanted a sign without “ribs” showing when lighted.

14At trial, Chun testified that when he initially contacted Brightway to manufacture the sign for him, he indicated that he wanted a sign comparable to that of the “Herbert Wiltz” insurance company, which Brightway had also manufactured. Chun stated that he specifically liked the fact that there were “no lines on the face of the [Herbert Wiltz] design,” but that he realized that any sign he would have made would be different in dimension and shape. Chun further stated that he had no knowledge or understanding that his sign would have the aluminum support “ribs” showing through. Chun also said that in the proposed drawings of the sign that he approved, there were no indications that the “ribs” would be visible. Chun testified that he did not have any written documentation that shows he had specifically indicated that the sign be made without support ribs showing.

Brightway’s vice president and sales representative, Warren Sciortino, testified that he had met with Chun on several occasions regarding the manufacturing of the sign. He said that Chun had indicated to him that he wanted a sign similar to the ‘Wiltz” canopy sign, but that a sign comparable in size was not within Chun’s budget. Sciortino stated “most of the awnings that are built all have ribs.” Sciortino indicated that that, in some cases, the lighting can be placed over the internal supports, thereby eliminating the shadows, but that it would not have been possible to do so with Chun’s sign, because the slant of the sign would have made the text unreadable. Sciortino said that none of Brightway’s renderings show ribs in the awnings. Sciortino further stated that at no time during his conversations with Chun did the issue of ribs in the awning ever come up.

IfiThe court of appeal may not set aside the trial court’s findings of fact, in the absence of manifest error or unless the findings are clearly wrong.1 Furthermore, “where two permissible views of the evidence exists, the factfinder’s choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong.”2

After a review of the record, we cannot say that the trial court was clearly wrong in finding that the testimony of Bright-way’s representatives was credible. Accordingly, we find this assignment to be without merit.

We next address Chun’s assertion that the trial court erred in failing to apply the proper law concerning the interpretation of contracts. The contract in question, signed by Sciortino and Chun on December 12,1997, was entered into evidence at trial. The contract called for Brightway to “Manufacture and install 32' awning with egg crate per Design # 7230” at a cost of $4,896.00.

Chun argues that the contract between himself and Brightway failed to address whether or not support “ribs” would be visible on the sign, and that this omission [867]*867constitutes a defect that must be interpreted against Brightway, who furnished the text of the contract.3 Chun further claims that the testimony of Brightway’s sales representative, Warren Sciortino, that Chun had not specified that he did not want the ribs to show through the sign, was not credible.

Conversely, Brightway argues that the sign was constructed and delivered pursuant to the specifications that Chun approved in the contract. Brightway further points out that Chun testified that he had nothing in writing to indicate that he wanted a sign where no ribs were visible.

|fiLa. C.C. art.2045 provides that the interpretation of a contract is the determination of the common intent of the parties. "When the words of a contract are clear and explicit and lead to no absurd consequences, no further interpretation may be made in search of the parties’ intent.4 The meaning and intent of the parties to a written instrument is ordinarily determined from the four corners of the instrument, and extrinsic (parol) evidence is inadmissible either to explain or to contradict the terms of the instrument.5

After a review of the record, we cannot say that, based upon the evidence presented, the trial court erred in finding that Chun’s intent was clearly expressed within the four corners of the contract. Accordingly, we find this assignment to be without merit.

Chun’s third and fourth assignments of error relate to the trial court’s finding that the “Herbert Wiltz” sign, which Chun showed to Brightway as an example of the type of sign he wanted, contained visible ribs.

At trial, photographs of the “Herbert Wiltz” sign were introduced as exhibits by Brightway. Chun first argues that the trial court erred in directly questioning him about the photographs of the sign at the conclusion of the trial without allowing him to fully complete his answers. Specifically, Chun refers to the following exchange:

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850 So. 2d 864, 2003 La.App. 5 Cir. 281, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 1792, 2003 WL 21414303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brightway-services-inc-v-tae-il-chun-lactapp-2003.