D&L Excavating & Trucking, Inc. v. Eden Gate, Inc.

144 P.3d 999, 208 Or. App. 98, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 1463
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedSeptember 27, 2006
DocketCV98262; A124130
StatusPublished

This text of 144 P.3d 999 (D&L Excavating & Trucking, Inc. v. Eden Gate, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
D&L Excavating & Trucking, Inc. v. Eden Gate, Inc., 144 P.3d 999, 208 Or. App. 98, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 1463 (Or. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

EDMONDS, P. J.

This case is before this court for a second time. In Eden Gate, Inc. v. D&L Excavating & Trucking, Inc., 178 Or App 610, 37 P3d 233 (2002) (“Eden Gate F), we remanded this case to the Yamhill County Circuit Court for further proceedings after determining that the court had improperly granted summary judgment to defendant Eden Gate, Inc. (Eden Gate). On remand, the trial court granted Eden Gate’s motion to dismiss the claims of plaintiff D&L Excavating & Trucking, Inc. (D&L) and awarded attorney fees to Eden Gate. For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand.

Our opinion in Eden Gate I involved two cases consolidated on appeal. One of those cases was the Yamhill County case that is the subject of this appeal; the other was a case in Multnomah County between the same parties. Both cases concerned a contract between D&L and Eden Gate for D&L to decommission an underground storage tank on Eden Gate’s property. In the Yamhill County case, D&L sought to foreclose a lien on Eden Gate’s property in the amount of $29,173.32 for work performed under the agreement. In the Multnomah County case, Eden Gate brought claims against D&L for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and negligence, all arising out of the performance of the excavation and removal work. Eden Gate also sought a declaratory judgment that it did not owe the additional $29,173.32 that D&L was demanding in connection with the lien on Eden Gate’s property.

The Multnomah County case was litigated first. Two days after trial, the trial court issued a letter opinion stating, without further explanation:

“The Court finds for the plaintiff [Eden Gate] on the breach of contract claim in the amount of $29,173.32. The Court finds for the defendant [D&L] on all the remaining claims.”

After judgment was entered, the court issued a letter indicating that Eden Gate was the prevailing party. However, D&L believed that, because it had prevailed on Eden Gate’s declaratory judgment claim, the result implied that Eden Gate in fact owed D&L money. The parties then asked the court for [101]*101clarification, and the court responded by way of a brief explanation in a letter opinion on the issue of attorney fees and costs:

“The plaintiff prevailed on its first claim for relief (Breach of Contract). * * * The plaintiffs fourth claim for relief sought a declaratory judgment regarding the Yamhill County lien for debts outstanding. The court did not reach the validity of the lien.”

Subsequently, in the Yamhill County case, both parties filed motions for summary judgment predicated on the outcome in the Multnomah County case. As we discussed in Eden Gate I:

“D&L argued that, in finding against Eden Gate on its claim for a declaratory judgment that the lien should be dismissed, the Multnomah County court had necessarily decided that, in fact, the lien should not be dismissed; Eden Gate, therefore, was precluded from now arguing that it should be. Eden Gate, on the other hand, argued that, in finding for Eden Gate on the breach of contract claim, the Multnomah County court had necessarily decided that Eden Gate did not owe D&L any money and that D&L, therefore, was precluded from now arguing that the lien was still valid.”

178 Or App at 616 (emphasis in original). As we pointed out in Eden Gate I, the issue was further complicated “by the fact that the Multnomah County court had awarded Eden Gate damages in the exact amount, to the penny, that D&L claimed under the lien * * *.” Id. Consequently, D&L believed that the court had intended to create a “wash” whereby the amount of the breach would be the same amount that Eden Gate owed on the lien. Id.

The Yamhill County court ultimately ruled that the Multnomah County judgment precluded the lien claim. The court concluded that the finding that

“ ‘D&L owed Eden Gate money on the breach of contract * * * had the effect of saying the balance was not due to D&L. This is the very issue in the case before this court. Further, with no money due D&L, there is no basis for a lien. There are no issues in this case, then, that were not [102]*102litigated and decided in the Multnomah County case. D&L is precluded from re-litigating this issue.’ ”

Id. at 617. Accordingly, the Yamhill County court granted Eden Gate’s motion for summary judgment and denied D&L’s motion. Id. D&L then appealed.

On appeal, we reversed the judgment in the Yamhill County case and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings.1 With respect to the denial of D&L’s motion for summary judgment, we concluded that the Multnomah County court’s decision against Eden Gate on the declaratory judgment claim did not establish that D&L was owed money on the lien:

“In general, a decision that one party does not qualify for a declaratory judgment stating a conclusion does not invariably imply that the opposite conclusion has been proved. * * * [T]he Multnomah County decision here, in its entirety, consisted of two bare statements: ‘The court finds for defendant on all remaining claims,’ and ‘The court expressly directs that final judgment be entered * * * for Defendant on the remaining claims.’ From this record, we could infer that the court intended to award Eden Gate $29,173.32 in damages and permit D&L to recoup that exact amount by foreclosing on its lien, thereby creating a ‘wash,’ but that is not the only inference. This record — viewed, we emphasize, in favor of the nonmoving party — does not demonstrate that the court made a ‘decision on a particular issue or determinative fact,’ North Clackamas School Dist. [v. White, 305 Or 48, 53, 750 P2d 485 (1988)], involving the continuing validity of Eden Gate’s alleged debt to D&L.”

Id. at 623 (emphasis in original).

We also concluded that the Multnomah County judgment did not, as a matter of law, establish that Eden Gate did not owe any additional money to D&L. We reasoned that,

“although one inference flowing from the record is that the Multnomah County court’s award to Eden Gate represents the court’s decision to capture all of the various and conflicting debt claims into a single net award, there is no evidence to that effect in any of the court’s letter opinions or its judgment.”

[103]*103Id. at 623-24. We noted that D&L’s theory that, “in awarding the exact amount of the lien, [the Multnomah County court] intended a ‘wash’ — in which case Eden Gate would still owe to D&L the exact amount on the outstanding lien that Eden Gate had received from D&L in damages * * * is also plausible.” Id. at 624 (emphasis in original). We then stated, “Further, on this record, the lien could be unrelated to the breach. Viewing the record in the light most favorable to D&L, then, we conclude that the Yamhill County court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Eden Gate.” Id.

On remand, the parties appeared for trial on D&L’s claims.

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Related

North Clackamas School Dist. v. White
750 P.2d 485 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1988)
Eden Gate, Inc. v. D&L Excavating & Trucking, Inc.
37 P.3d 233 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 P.3d 999, 208 Or. App. 98, 2006 Ore. App. LEXIS 1463, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dl-excavating-trucking-inc-v-eden-gate-inc-orctapp-2006.