C.R. Pittman Construction Co. v. Jefferson Parish Department of Water & Public Works

989 So. 2d 149, 7 La.App. 5 Cir. 1002, 2008 La. App. LEXIS 984, 2001 WL 36150538
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 19, 2008
DocketNo. 07-CA-1002
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 989 So. 2d 149 (C.R. Pittman Construction Co. v. Jefferson Parish Department of Water & Public Works) 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
C.R. Pittman Construction Co. v. Jefferson Parish Department of Water & Public Works, 989 So. 2d 149, 7 La.App. 5 Cir. 1002, 2008 La. App. LEXIS 984, 2001 WL 36150538 (La. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

FREDERICKA HOMBERG WICKER, Judge.

I ¿Phis appeal arises out of the granting of a Motion for Summary Judgment in favor of the Jefferson Parish Department of Water and Public Works and against appellant, C.R. Pittman Construction Company. For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court.

FACTS

Appellant was the low bidder on a Jefferson Parish Bid Proposal for the expansion of the West Bank Water Treatment Plant. The bid on the project was $20,029,000.00. Jefferson Parish accepted the bid pursuant to Resolution No. 93724 by the Parish Council. The parties entered into a work agreement on June 25, 2001 and that agreement was recorded in the Jefferson Parish mortgage and conveyance office. Pursuant to the work agreement appellant, and subcontractors hired by appellant, performed updates and repairs to the West Bank Water Treatment plant.

| aOnce the work was complete, appellant filed its acceptance of completion for review by the Parish. The Parish’s engineering representative, Camp, Dresser & McKee reviewed the project and related to the Parish that the project was complete. In return, pursuant to resolution no. 102609, the Parish Council granted an “acceptance of completed contract” to appellant. The “acceptance of completion” provided that after the expiration of 45 days, appellant would provide a clear lien and privilege certificate from the Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court to the Jefferson Parish Council, and the Parish would prepare the necessary documents to authorize payments and/or release the retainage bond.

On March 14, 2005 appellant obtained what it believed was a clear lien and privilege certificate pertaining to the project, from the Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court. The lien certificate showed no liens against the West Bank Water Treatment Plant project. Accordingly, appellant submitted a certificate of payment and statement of account to Jefferson Parish on January 26, 2006 in the amount of $1,096,987.36.

Unbeknown to appellant, QDS Systems, Inc., a subcontractor, had filed a lien against the project. This lien did not appear on the certificate obtained by appellant on March 14, 2005. However, QDS served the parish with notice of their lien and claim. Both QDS and Fisk Electric were listed as lienholders on the lien affidavit.

Four months after submitting its statement of account to Jefferson Parish and not receiving payment, appellant instituted a proceeding against the Parish alleging breach and demanding attorney’s fees, interest, and costs. The Parish answered [152]*152and invoked a concursus proceeding on July 11, 2006, whereby it deposited the disputed retainage in the amount of $1,096,987.36 into the registry of the court. Thereafter, the parties entered a consent agreement pursuant to which $425,000.00 |4was disbursed to the lienholders with appellant receiving the remaining $671,987.50 of the funds held in the court’s registry. This agreement also resolved all issues between the appellant, Fisk Electric, and QDS Systems, Inc., and resulted in the dismissal of the underlying concursus proceeding. Appellant reserved its rights against the Parish on the remaining demands in its original petition. Jefferson Parish then sought summary judgment on those demands, namely, costs, interest and attorney’s fees. On August 17, 2007, the trial court granted the Parish’s motion for summary judgment at plaintiffs costs. It is from the granting of that summary judgment that Pittman appeals.

LAW AND ANALYSIS

Appellate courts review summary judgment de novo under the same criteria that govern the district court’s consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate. Irula v. Jean, Ob-927 (La.App. 5 Cir. 4/24/07), 958 So.2d 66, 67. An appellate court will ask the same questions as the trial court in determining whether summary judgment is appropriate. Id. The court must ask whether there is a genuine issue of material fact remaining to be decided, and whether the appellant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id., citing, Tassin v. City of Westwego, 95-307 (La.App. 5 Cir. 12/13/95), 665 So.2d 1272. The appellate court must determine whether summary judgment is appropriate under the circumstances of the case. There must be a “genuine” or “triable” issue on which reasonable persons could disagree. Under the amended version of La.C.C.P. art. 966, the burden of proof remains on the mover to show “that there is no genuine issue as to material fact and- that the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” A material fact is one that would matter on the trial of the merits. Id., citing, J.W. Rombach, Inc. v. Parish of Jefferson, 95-829 (La.App. 5 Cir. 2/14/96), 670 So.2d 1305.

| ¡¡In the present case, Appellant assigns the following errors for our review:

(1) Did the Parish properly invoke a concursus proceeding? Thus should the Public Bid Law be given a Sui Generis or Stricti Juris effect?
(2) Should the Parish be held liable for interest, attorney’s fees, and loss profit for invoking the concursus instead of paying the retainage upon production of a clear lien and privilege certificate?

We will address appellant’s assignments of error accordingly.

CONCURSUS PROCEEDING

La.C.C.P. art. 4658 states that with leave of court, the plaintiff may deposit into the registry of the court money which is claimed by the defendants, and which plaintiff admits is due one or more of the defendants. After the deposit of the money into the registry of the court, the plaintiff is relieved of all liability to all of the defendants for the money so deposited. Id. Concursus proceedings are to be treated the same as ordinary proceedings, except as otherwise provided. La.C.C.P. art. 2087. Thus, a devolutive appeal from a concursus proceeding must be taken within 60 days of the date a judgment is final in the trial court. La.C.C.P. art. 2087.

The motion for summary judgment addressed solely those issues that had not been resolved pursuant to the Joint Motion to Withdraw and Disburse funds signed by the parties on June 17, 2007. Yet, on appeal, appellant complains that the trial court never should have allowed the Parish [153]*153to invoke a concursus proceeding in the first place. The trial judge signed the order permitting institution of the concur-sus proceeding on June 21, 2006. After the delay for a motion for new trial had run, the clock began to tick. Appellant had 60 days from June 28, 2006 within which to appeal the Parish’s institution of a concursus. Appellant did not file a notice of appeal in the trial court until August 28, 2007, more than one year after the delay [ Bhad run. Thus any argument as to the propriety of the concursus proceeding is moot because it is untimely.

However, in order to conduct our de novo review of the merits of the Parish’s motion for summary judgment, it is necessary for us to analyze whether the concursus proceeding was the correct vehicle by which to resolve the underlying dispute. Appellant complains that the Parish should not have instituted a concur-sus proceeding in light of the fact that the lien and privilege certificate it obtained from the Clerk’s office was clear. La.R.S. 38:2243 specifically provides:

A.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hartford Casualty Insurance v. MDI Construction, L.L.C.
848 F. Supp. 2d 627 (E.D. Louisiana, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
989 So. 2d 149, 7 La.App. 5 Cir. 1002, 2008 La. App. LEXIS 984, 2001 WL 36150538, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cr-pittman-construction-co-v-jefferson-parish-department-of-water-lactapp-2008.