Cottage City Mennonite Church, Inc. v. Jas Trucking, Inc.

894 A.2d 609, 167 Md. App. 694, 2006 Md. App. LEXIS 35
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMarch 6, 2006
DocketNo. 618
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 894 A.2d 609 (Cottage City Mennonite Church, Inc. v. Jas Trucking, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cottage City Mennonite Church, Inc. v. Jas Trucking, Inc., 894 A.2d 609, 167 Md. App. 694, 2006 Md. App. LEXIS 35 (Md. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

DAVIS, J.

Cottage City Mennonite Church, Inc., appellant, appeals from a Final Order Establishing Mechanic’s Lien Pursuant to Arbitration Award granted against it and in favor of JAS Trucking, Inc., appellee, by the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County on March 28, 2005 (Martin, J.). Appellant presents three questions for our review:

1. Did the Trial Court abuse its discretion, commit plain legal error, and deny Appellant due process of law by entering a Final Order against Appellant, a non-party to an arbitration, without giving the Appellant an opportunity to present its independent defenses to the Mechanic’s Lien at statutorily prescribed hearings?
2. Did the Trial Court abuse its discretion in entering a Final Order, and refusing to vacate that Final Order, without having considered Appellant’s timely filed Response to [appellee’s] Motion for Entry of Final Order Establishing Mechanic’s Lien Pursuant to Arbitration Award?
3. Did the Trial Court abuse its discretion in entering a lien in this Case based on an arbitration award that was the basis for an un-enrolled judgment in a second Circuit Court case?

We answer all three questions in the negative. Accordingly, we shall affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Appellee entered into a subcontractor-prime contractor agreement with Maryland Construction Inc. (“MCI”), to construct a church building for appellant on appellant’s land located in Lanham, Maryland. Appellee agreed to perform [697]*697“trucking, grading and excavating services [as] required by the prime contract.” As the construction progressed, disputes arose among the three parties; appellee and MCI disagreed about the manner in which appellee was operating under its subcontract, while appellant blamed appellee for destruction of a barn and other items on the property.

The disputes led appellee to file a Mechanic’s Lien cause of action against appellant on April 8, 2004, seeking a lien of $49,185 .00 for the work it had performed. The court issued a Show Cause Order dated April 27, 2004, ordering appellant to “show cause by filing a counter-affidavit or a verified answer on or before the 27th day of May, 2004, why a lien for the amount claimed should not attach upon the land.... ” The parties stipulated to postponing the show cause hearing and filed a Consent Motion to Continue on May 25, 2004, which the Court (Smith, J.) granted.

On that same date, appellant also filed a Motion to Compel Mediation and/or Arbitration and to Dismiss Complaint. Appellant claimed that there was an express agreement to arbitrate contained within the “controlling contractual language.” Appellant averred that the subcontract between appellee and MCI “expressly incorporate^] the Prime Contract between MCI and [appellant],” which stated:

The Subcontract documents consist of (1) this Agreement; (2) the Prime Contract and other Contract Documents enumerated therein; ... These form the Subcontract and are as fully a part of the Subcontract as if attached to this Agreement or repeated herein.

With respect to resolving disputes, the contract further provided:

Any claim arising out of or related to this Subcontract, ... shall be subject to arbitration. Prior to arbitration, the parties shall endeavor to resolve disputes by mediation ... that in addition to and prior to arbitration, the parties shall endeavourer [sic] to settle disputes by mediation in accordance with the Construction Industry Mediation Rules of the American Arbitration Association ...

[698]*698Appellant contended that, because appellee failed to mediate the dispute, it should have been barred from seeking arbitration. In addition, according to appellant, appellee was not entitled to a mechanic’s lien because it agreed to arbitrate disputes. As a result, appellant “demand[ed] that [appellee] honor the terms of the contract and mediate and/or arbitrate this dispute,” and requested the court to dismiss the mechanic’s lien case. The Motion included a subheading titled “Verification,” and signed by Douglas C. Winger, Construction Manager for MCI, which stated, “I solemnly swear under penalty of perjury that the contents of the foregoing are true to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.” On June 1, 2004, appellee filed for arbitration against MCI demanding payment for its work.

Appellant and appellee filed a Consent Motion to Stay Proceedings associated with the mechanic’s lien case on June 9, 2004. The parties stated in their motion that they had “agreed that these [] proceedings should be stayed pending the outcome of [appellee’s] pending arbitration [claim against Prime Contractor MCI.]” In an Order of Court dated June 16, 2004, the court ordered that the mechanic’s hen matter be stayed and removed the matter from the docket, “pending the outcome of arbitration between the parties and [MCI] on the merits of [appellee’s] Complaint.”

MCI submitted a Counterclaim in opposition to appellant’s claim for arbitration. The arbitrator denied MCI’s counterclaim and, as a result, MCI was precluded from presenting much of its opposing evidence. Appellee presented its claim to the Construction Arbitration Tribunal over three hearing dates in October and November of 2004. In the Award of Arbitrator, dated December 30, 2004, the arbitrator found:

It is clear from the detailed drafting of the contract that [MCI] was prepared to accept an efficient “in and out” effort of less than 60 days on substantially [appellee’s] guarded terms. In essence, [appellee’s] scope of work here is generally SOP for the industry and if not explicitly modified, there may be some risk to the other party, unless this risk can be transferred to the owner. While the [699]*699primary question here would appear to be whether [MCI’s] interpretation of borrow pit trumps [appellee’s] exclusion for undercutting and/or backfilling below the design sub-grade, the delay in resolution of this and other matters hindering the continuous operations of [appellee,] had a more significant effect on the project than the core trench issue itself. Where the parties anticipated a short and unobstructed operation, the project became fragmented into a phased effort. In mid-November, 2003, when [appellee] should have been off the job a month earlier, [MCI] was both advising and demanding where [appellee] could work even though there was no prior contract prohibition why any work should still be undone. Prior to this time, absent the core trench issue, there is lacking any substantive correspondence or daily report comments reflecting a failure on the part of [appellee] to perform. Absent the barn issue, had the actions, or lack of action by [appellee] diminished [appellee’s] application for payment? As to the core trench issue, working under the direction of [MCI], [appel-lee] maintained their reservation of rights in this matter and it has been determined here that [appellee’s] position has prevailed. Given the importance of this issue and [appel-lee’s] explicit superseding contract exception here, it was incumbent upon [MCI], as drafter of the agreement, to clarify this issue so that the risk to [appellee] would be exposed for whatever consideration. Having prevailed on the core trench issue, the delay and subsequent consequence of this matter are not chargeable to [appellee]. The unresolved barn issue is significant only as to an amount possibly due [MCI] in excess of the insurance proceeds.

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Bluebook (online)
894 A.2d 609, 167 Md. App. 694, 2006 Md. App. LEXIS 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cottage-city-mennonite-church-inc-v-jas-trucking-inc-mdctspecapp-2006.