General Contracting Corp. v. United States

88 Ct. Cl. 214, 1939 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 256, 1939 WL 4241
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJanuary 9, 1939
DocketNo. 42796
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 88 Ct. Cl. 214 (General Contracting Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
General Contracting Corp. v. United States, 88 Ct. Cl. 214, 1939 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 256, 1939 WL 4241 (cc 1939).

Opinion

Booth, Chief Justice,

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff is a Delaware corporation. March 27, 1931, plaintiff entered into the contract involved in this case. The contract obligated the plaintiff to furnish all labor and materials and perform the work essential to construct for -the United States a lock in the Kanawha River, opposite Marmet, in the State of West Virginia.

This suit is for the recovery of stated sums alleged to be •due the plaintiff for performing work which the contract -did not provide it should perform. Ten separate items are involved, and each exacts a discussion. Work under the -contract and on the premises was performed by the plaintiff prior to the time limit prescribed, and the plaintiff has received payments as provided in the contract and additional payments for extra work ordered thereunder.

TESTING STONET GATE VALVES

The contract required the plaintiff to construct and install six Stoney gate valves. Four such valves were to be installed in Lock A, the lock plaintiff was building, and two in Lock B which another contractor was building. The valves were to be operated by oil pressure and were connected with blades or gates and controlled when operated the filling and emptying of the lock chamber.

[237]*237Paragraph 130 of the specifications provided for a test of the valves after installation. This paragraph did not specifically state that the test was to be made by the use of oil pressure. It simply said, “they shall be raised and lowered to assure that the clearances specified on the drawings have been provided, and that the controlling devices are functioning properlyin other words, tested to ascertain if the valves would lower and raise the gates of the lock.

It is true paragraphs 131 and 139 of the specifications provide in detail for furnishing the necessary piping for oil in order to utilize it in operating the valves, but it is to be observed that the contractor was not to furnish and install piping for oil transmission to a point where an oil test could be made with respect to the two valves installed in iiock B. The contractor, it is admitted, did all that was required by the specifications with respect to the four valves installed in Lock A. These valves were subjected to an oil test and were satisfactory.

Notwithstanding the lack of facilities for oil testing the two valves in Lock B, and notwithstanding the success of the mechanical test of the same, the contracting officer exacted that an oil test of the same be made. The plaintiff protested against this exaction unless extra pay be allowed therefor. Some time in December 1931, after the work had heen performed, the contracting officer allowed the plaintiff :$895 for the piping, valves, and fittings furnished by plaintiff, plus a profit of ten percent, but declined to allow $20.85, the rental cost of an oil pump, and $192.17, the cost of labor incident to the same.

It is not contradicted that the cost to the plaintiff for doing this extra work is as stated in the record. The defense to this item is rested upon an alleged agreement between the parties providing that the defendant would pay for the materials to be furnished by the contractor plus, as stated, a profit of ten percent, the cost of labor incident to conducting the test to be borne by the contractor.

The issue resolves itself into a question of fact and the record upon this question is contradictory. The contractor was •obligated to observe paragraph 130 of the specifications [238]*238(Finding 6). This paragraph does not expressly call for an oil test of the valves, unless an inference follows from the general words “the controlling devices are functioning properly.” However, it is indisputable that no contractual obligation was imposed upon the contractor to conduct an oil test of the valves installed in Lock B. The oil test made by the contractor of the valves in Lock B was made upon the order of the defendant and for its benefit, and from the record the defendant, recognizing its own omission to provide specifications to cover the same, did in this instance fail to pay the full amount due the contractor, and a judgment for $213.02. will be awarded.

PREPARING GIRDERS POR ENAMELING

Findings T, 8, and 9 are amply supported by the recorcl. The error in the specifications with respect to the painting of the large steel box girders did not occasion the plaintiff any monetary loss, and, in addition to this fact, the plaintiff' agreed to the arrangement suggested by the defendant whereby the defendant was to accept the girders painted as the specifications provided instead of exacting that they be-painted in another way.

The plaintiff is in no position to raise an issue as to what it terms a cancellation of the specifications which required the furnishing of the girders. It is true the contractng officer did notify the plaintiff that the girders would not be required,, and subsequently changed his mind and ordered that they be furnished. The plaintiff did not protest this proceeding but acquiesced and proceeded to promptly meet the specifications. We do not mean to imply that a protest would have had the. effect of giving rise to a cause of action; we recite the fact as. additional evidence that the plaintiff acquiesced in what was done. No additional or extra work resulted from the order..

FURNISHING STEEL CASTINGS

The specifications required the plaintiff to furnish steel castings and they were furnished. The controversy over this: item is as to payment for the same. The castings were to be-embedded in the cement walls of the lock chamber. They [239]*239functioned to prevent injury to the walls by the vessels passing through, and to a limited extent prevented injury to the vessels themselves. Due to the number of castings to be furnished, it was impracticable to have their weight ascertained on the site of the work.

The specifications provided as follows:

Unless otherwise authorized by the contracting officer, each casting shall be within 7y2 per cent of the theoretical weight as calculated from the drawings. [Italics inserted.]

Obviously this provision has nothing to do with fixing payment for the castings except in an indirect way, as will appear. The provision deals expressly with the weight exacted for each casting. It is stated that the contractor was to be paid at the rate of 5y2 cents a pound, after the total weight of all the castings was ascertained.

The plaintiff then, in order to ascertain weight, must resort, as the specifications direct, to the drawings which in this instance become part of the contract. No other method was available and none has been suggested in briefs or argument. Therefore, the solution of this issue depends upon the drawings for the weight of each casting; the specification is not involved.

We have said that all the castings were to be embedded in the walls of the lock chamber. In order to successfully accomplish this, the castings had to be fabricated with what are termed “core holes.” The castings to be embedded had to be attached to wooden frames into which concrete- was poured, and the “core holes,” i. e., nothing more than ordinary holes, enabled workmen to attach them by inserting anchor pins into the holes and the wooden frames.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
88 Ct. Cl. 214, 1939 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 256, 1939 WL 4241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-contracting-corp-v-united-states-cc-1939.