Dooley Constructors v. Developers Sur.

972 So. 2d 893, 2007 WL 3274333
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 7, 2007
Docket3D06-689
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 972 So. 2d 893 (Dooley Constructors v. Developers Sur.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dooley Constructors v. Developers Sur., 972 So. 2d 893, 2007 WL 3274333 (Fla. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

972 So.2d 893 (2007)

DOOLEY AND MACK CONSTRUCTORS, INC., Appellant,
v.
DEVELOPERS SURETY AND INDEMNITY COMPANY and Buildtec Construction Group, Inc., Appellees.

No. 3D06-689.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

November 7, 2007.
Rehearing and Rehearing Denied February 7, 2008.

*894 Gurley Dramis Lazo; Elizabeth Russo and Jonathan L. Gaines, Miami, for appellant.

Etcheverry Harrison LLP and Guy W. Harrison and Edward Etcheverry, Plantation, for appellee Developers Surety and Indemnity Co.

Before SHEPHERD, J., and SCHWARTZ and FLETCHER, Senior Judges.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied February 7, 2008.

SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.

The appellant Dooley and Mack Constructors, Inc., the general contractor on a Miami-Dade Community College project, was the obligee on a performance bond issued by Developers Surety and Indemnity Company, on behalf of Buildtec Construction Group, Inc., the masonry subcontractor. Dooley appeals from a final summary judgment for the surety in an action for damages it sustained when, after Buildtec defaulted by abandoning the job, Dooley undertook to and did complete the masonry work itself. We reverse.

The basis of the ruling below was the undisputed fact that the plaintiff had not formally notified the surety of its alleged right to cure its principal's default by itself completing the masonry work or otherwise arranging for the masonry work to be done. Under a familiar term of a "standard" surety bond, which is included in this one,[1] such a failure would indeed result in a termination of the surety's obligations. E.g., Ins. Co. of N. Am. v. Metro. Dade County, 705 So.2d 33 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997); Seaboard Sur. Co. v. Town of Greenfield, 370 F.3d 215 (1st Cir.2004); L & A Contracting Co. v. S. Concrete Servs., Inc., 17 F.3d 106 (5th Cir.1994) (applying Florida law); Sch. Bd. of Escambia County v. TIG Premier Ins. Co., 110 F.Supp.2d 1351 (N.D.Fla.2000). This rule does not apply here, however, simply because the particular agreement involved in this case—which was drafted by Dooley (quite obviously for its own benefit) and accepted by the surety—contained an additional decisive provision which, to the contrary, specifically permits Dooley to proceed as it did. See OBS Co. v. Pace Constr. Corp., 558 So.2d 404 (Fla.1990); DCC Constructors, Inc. v. Randall Mech., Inc., 791 So.2d 575 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001); Henderson Inv. *895 Corp. v. Int'l Fid. Ins. Co., 575 So.2d 770 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991); Nat'l Fire Ins. Co. of Hartford v. Fortune Constr. Co., 320 F.3d 1260 (11th Cir.2003) (applying Florida law), cert. denied, 540 U.S. 873, 124 S.Ct. 221, 157 L.Ed.2d 133 (2003). Article 5(d) of the subcontract, which was expressly made a part of the entire agreement, ("Subcontract is by reference made a part hereof, and is hereinafter referred to as the Subcontract.") states as follows:

If, in the opinion of Contractor, Subcontractor falls behind in the progress of the WORK, Contractor may require the Subcontractor to take such steps as Contractor deems necessary to improve the rate of progress including additional labor and labor time, plant time, or other remedies. Additionally, Contractor has the option, but not the obligation, to notify the Subcontractor that upon its failure to satisfactorily improve the rate of progress after forty-eight (48) hours notice, Contractor shall have the right to declare the Subcontract breached and take charge of and complete the performance of the WORK with such persons, firms, or corporations as Contractor shall deem necessary. In the event the cost to complete Subcontractor's contract exceeds the original contract price, Subcontractor shall be liable for all such extra costs and damages. The Subcontractor, its surety, and any bond shall be liable to all losses, damages, and expenses, including attorneys' fees and costs incurred in the prosecution or defense of any action, suit, or arbitration incurred by or resulting to the Contractor on the above account.

(Emphasis added). Reading all portions of the several documents together, as the law requires, see OBS Co., 558 So.2d at 406, it seems clear that they expressly grant Dooley the option either to call upon the surety, see Ins. Co. of N. Am., 705 So.2d at 33, or, as it did, to cure Buildtec's default itself and thereafter hold the "surety, and [the] bond . . . liable to all losses, damages, and expenses," (emphasis added), without notifying the surety as Article 5(d) simply does not require. Because none of the cases or authorities cited by the surety and relied on by the trial court involves the term which controls this case, a contrary result is required. See RLI Ins. Co. v. St. Patrick's Home for the Infirm & Aged, 452 F.Supp.2d 484 (S.D.N.Y.2006) (holding that absence of explicit notice requirement of principal's default to surety distinguishes cases finding that notice is condition precedent to surety's payment under bond); see generally Kilpatrick Bros. Painting v. Chippewa Hills Sch. Dist., No. 262396, 2006 WL 664210 (Mich.Ct.App. Mar.16, 2006).

Accordingly, we reverse the judgment below with directions to enter summary judgment on liability for the appellant and for further proceedings to determine its damages.

Reversed and remanded.

FLETCHER, Senior Judge, concurs.

SHEPHERD, J., dissenting.

I respectfully dissent. Neither the relationship of the parties in this case nor the contract documents governing that relationship are unusual, remarkable, or extraordinary.[2] The majority, however, seizes upon an obscure provision of the subcontract agreement, not signed by the surety, to afford Dooley and Mack a remedy *896 not contemplated either in the default provision of the subcontract or the bond. In so doing, I believe the majority misreads and misconstrues these documents.

The majority's interpretation of the agreements in this case effectively converts the bond into an insurance policy. The sentence upon which the majority relies to find "coverage" in Dooley and Mack, "[t]he Subcontractor, its surety, and any bond shall be liable to all losses, damages, and expenses, including attorneys' fees and costs incurred in the prosecution or defense of any action, suit, or arbitration incurred by or resulting to the Contractor on the above Account," actually appears in an article entitled "Progress of the Work" contained within the thirty-one page subcontract agreement signed by the contractor, Dooley and Mack, and the subcontractor, Buildtec Construction Group. The article, in its entirety, reads:

ARTICLE 5. PROGRESS OF WORK.
(a) Subcontractor shall give due consideration that other work is depending upon the work of this Agreement for proper completion. It is agreed that Contractor may require Subcontractor to prosecute some parts of the WORK over parts of the WORK.
(b) Subcontractor shall supply adequate supervision, skilled workmen, tools, materials and equipment to the project, and shall also promptly pay for all materials and labor furnished by him in the WORK. If required by Contractor, weekly certified payrolls shall be provided by the Subcontractor.

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Related

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983 So. 2d 1243 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2008)
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972 So. 2d 893 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2007)

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