Diamond B Construction Co. v. Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development

780 So. 2d 439, 2000 WL 1864459
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 2000
DocketNo. 00 CA 1583
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 780 So. 2d 439 (Diamond B Construction Co. v. Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development) 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
Diamond B Construction Co. v. Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development, 780 So. 2d 439, 2000 WL 1864459 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

I «WHIPPLE, Judge.

In this challenge under the Louisiana Public Bid Law, plaintiff, Diamond B Construction. Inc. (hereinafter “Diamond B”), appeals from an adverse judgment of the trial court granting summary judgment in favor of the Department of Transportation and Development on its reconveritional demand. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In connection with a project to upgrade U.S. Highway 171, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (hereinafter “the DOTD”) advertised bidding for the project at issue in this appeal, State Project Numbers 025-01-0027 and 025-02-0026 (hereinafter “the project”). This reconstruction project involves the roadway on U.S. Highway 171, from Horn-beck to Florien, Louisiana, through the parishes of Vernon and Sabine, and is part of a larger, overall program undertaken to significantly upgrade U.S. Highway 171 from Shreveport to Lake Charles. The project is funded with monies from the Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development, otherwise known as TIMED Project Funding. However, TIMED Project Funding covers only the initial construction and contains no provisions for future recurring periodic maintenance.

In budgeting for this project, the DOTD estimated that the project would cost $31,540,610.86. The DOTD’s Construction Cost Estimate Specifications listed Portland cement concrete as the surface type to be used for the project rather than asphaltic pavement. Initial specifications were drawn for the project-and the construction proposal was circulated and made available for review by interested bidders. By letter dated January 6, 2000, after having obtained copies of the construction proposal, Diamond B formally requested that the DOTD amend the ^design specifications and construction proposal to permit the use of “asphalt” as an alternative to Portland cement concrete as specified in the original design proposal. After meeting with Diamond B’s representatives as requested, and considering the arguments and reasons urged by Diamond B for changing the plans and withdrawing the project from the letting process, the DOTD declined to amend the project proposal and refused to cancel the bid schedule, stating: “The decision to use concrete on most of U.S. 171 was made years ago and consultants were selected with instructions to prepare the plans specifying concrete as the pavement of choice.” Thus, Diamond B was notified on January 18, 2000 that its request to delay the letting of the project and include asphalt as an alternative was denied.

In response, on January 24, 2000, Diamond B filed a petition requesting a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prohibit the DOTD from issuing any bids, work orders, or to begin performing any work on the project, and [442]*442for a judgment declaring the specifications of the project “illegal closed specifications,” and that any contract entered into for the project be declared null and void.

Diamond B alleged in its petition that requiring the contractor to use Portland cement concrete pavement to the exclusion of asphaltic concrete stifled competition and was in. direct violation of LSA-R.S. 38:2290, et seq., Louisiana’s closed specification statutes. In response, the DOTD filed an answer and reconventional demand on February 10, 2000. Despite this ongoing litigation, the bidding process was completed, and the contract was awarded to the apparent lowest bidder, Jones Brothers, Inc. of Tennessee, via a letter from the DOTD dated February 18, 2000, based on a bid in the amount of $27,534,391.92. On April 4, |42000, the trial court gave oral reasons for denying plaintiffs application for preliminary injunction and signed a judgment to that effect on April 14, 2000.2

Seeking to dismiss plaintiffs claim of violations of the closed specification laws, on February 16, 2000, intervenor, the Concrete and Aggregate Association of Louisiana (hereinafter “CAAL”) and the DOTD each filed motions for summary judgment. Those motions were later jointly supplemented by CAAL and the DOTD on February 18, 2000.3

The DOTD again filed a motion for summary judgment on April 13, 2000, seeking to dismiss plaintiffs claim of violations of the closed specification laws. Diamond B also filed motions for summary judgment against CAAL and the DOTD on March 2, 2000, and against intervenor, Jones Brothers, Inc. of Tennessee on March 3, 2000.

By judgment dated May 31, 2000, the trial court granted the DOTD’s motion citing the reasons previously rendered on April 4, 2000 for the denial of the petition for preliminary injunction, dismissing plaintiffs suit with prejudice. As sought by the DOTD, declaratory judgment was also rendered on the DOTD’s reconven-tional demand declaring that the DOTD’s failure to include alternative designs in its bid documents does not constitute a violation of LSA-R.S. 38:2290, et seq. All remaining motions filed on behalf of Diamond B, CAAL, and Jones Brothers, Inc. of Tennessee were denied.

|BOn June 8, 2000, Diamond B filed a motion for new trial on the grounds that it had received evidence on May 23, 2000, the day after the hearing on the motion for summary judgment, which would affect the results of the case. The motion was denied by the trial court on June 16, 2000.

Plaintiff now appeals, assigning the following as error:

A. The District Court erred in granting summary judgment dismissing Diamond B’s petition by interpreting “product” in La. R.S. 38:2290, et seq., to exclude Portland cement concrete and asphaltic concrete when used in highway pavement. The trial court failed to follow controlling precedent, and the trial court’s interpretation failed to conform to the purpose of “assuring uninhibited competitive bidding.”
B. The District Court erred by denying summary judgment in favor of Dia[443]*443mond B. The trial court should have determined that asphaltic concrete and Portland cement concrete are products of equal quality and utility. The summary judgment should have granted declaratory relief and a permanent injunction as prayed for, and should have dismissed DOTD’s reconventional demand.
C. The District Court erred by denying Diamond B’s motion for a new trial to admit evidence discovered by Diamond B after the hearing on summary judgment which was withheld by DOTD in discovery without justification. The newly discovered evidence shows that during the pendency of this suit, DOTD’s Pavement Structure Review Committee determined that Portland cement concrete pavement and asphaltic concrete pavement are of equal quality and utility and recommended a mechanism for alternate bidding. The Chief Engineer approved the recommendation indicating DOTD’s intention to competitively bid pavement. Diamond B’s motion for a new trial should have been granted under La. C.C.P. art. 1972(2).
D. The District Court erred in refusing to supplement the record under La. C.C.P. art. 2132 to include judicial confessions by DOTD in a memorandum which was filed by DOTD with the trial court, but not filed into the record with the clerk of court.

DISCUSSION

A motion for summary judgment is a procedural device used to avoid a full-scale trial where there is no genuine factual dispute. Sanders v. Ashland Oil, Inc., 96-1751, p. 5 (La.App. 1st Cir.6/20/97), 696 So.2d 1031, 1034, writ denied, 97-/19116 (La.10/31/97), 703 So.2d 29.

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780 So. 2d 439, 2000 WL 1864459, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diamond-b-construction-co-v-louisiana-department-of-transportation-lactapp-2000.