Lakeside Bridge & Steel Co. v. Mountain State Construction Co.

400 F. Supp. 273, 21 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 74, 17 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 917, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16360
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedSeptember 3, 1975
DocketCiv. A. 73-C-649
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 400 F. Supp. 273 (Lakeside Bridge & Steel Co. v. Mountain State Construction Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lakeside Bridge & Steel Co. v. Mountain State Construction Co., 400 F. Supp. 273, 21 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 74, 17 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 917, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16360 (E.D. Wis. 1975).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

REYNOLDS, Chief Judge.

This is a diversity action arising out of a contract whereby plaintiff agreed to manufacture and supply to defendant certain structural assemblies for installation by defendant in the Gathright Dam and Reservoir in Gathright Lake, Virginia. Plaintiff has filed a motion for summary judgment and also a motion for sanctions for defendant’s failure to provide discovery as ordered by the court. Defendant has moved for an order requiring the vice president of plaintiff to answer questions on oral deposition. For the reasons hereinafter stated, the motion for summary judgment must be denied, the motion for sanctions denied in part and granted in part, and the defendant’s motion for an order compelling answers granted.

*275 FACTS

On June 8, 1970, plaintiff sent to defendant its Proposal No. 00354. This document quoted prices on bid items 34, 35, 37, 38, 51, 52, and 53 totalling $1,597,-090. The printed form stated that “This proposal is not an offer.” A typewritten part of the proposal provided for payment, on or before the 10th of each month, of 90% of the value of work shipped by the 25th of the preceding month, and further stated that “Amounts past due shall bear interest at the rate of 1% per month.”

Subsequently, on June 27, 1970, one R. K. Shaw, the “Administrator—Special Contracts” of plaintiff, quoted defendant a price of $1,260,000 on bid items 34, 35, 38, and 51.

On July 7, 1970, defendant transmitted to plaintiff its Purchase Order No. 402 which ordered bid items 34, 35, 38, and 51 at a total price of $1,260,000 “per your quotation dated June 8, 1970.” The order specified that the items were to be supplied subject to the plans, specifications, and approval of the Corps of Engineers, and set out a delivery schedule. The order also contained a liquidated damages clause for delay not beyond the seller’s control which provided for payment at the rate of $610 per day.

On July 28, 1970, plaintiff wrote to defendant and enclosed a signed copy of defendant’s July 7, 1970, purchase order No. 402. The letter indicated that plaintiff had accepted the order except for the liquidated damages clause which plaintiff stated it could not accept. The deletion of the liquidated damages clause from the parties’ agreement was subsequently acceded to by defendant.

Thereafter, and continuing until November 22, 1971, plaintiff manufactured and shipped the materials for the dam project. Plaintiff also provided additional labor and materials for which defendant promised to pay $21,750, bringing the total principal sum to $1,281,750. Defendant has paid $995,811.90 of this amount.

Some of the materials which plaintiff supplied did not fit into the dam project as well as defendant had anticipated they would. As a result, corrective work had to be performed and the completion of the dam was delayed. Defendant began withholding payments and took the position that the agreement of the parties did not include a provision for the payment of interest.

Several meetings were held in order »to resolve the dispute. Plaintiff did not contradict defendant’s claim that some of the materials required additional work to be done on them, but instead advanced the theory that the Corps of Engineers had provided faulty specifications in that the specifications for plaintiff’s manufacture in its shop were looser than the specifications for installation at the dam site.

At the close of a meeting on August 23, 1973, Gordon C. Behnke, the vice president of plaintiff, and Dean E. Lewis, the president of defendant, signd a handwritten agreement which stated:

“Gathright Dam-—Corps of Engrs contract

D ACW-65-70-C-0075

“Agreement the Lakeside Bridge & Steel Co. accepts a backcharge of $11,-317.00 covering direct costs incurred to date for corrective work on the material supplied by us for Gathright Dam plus a maximum backcharge due to the delays resulting from this corrective work of (35 days at $390 per day) $13,650.00. This backcharge of $13,650.00 due to delays is to be reduced by any calendar days times $390.00 per day that the Corps of Engineers grants to Mountain States Construction Co. as time extensions to their contract completion date for occurances [sic] during the period from August 7, 1972 to September 22, 1972.”

Defendant has submitted affidavits seeking to establish that (1) the agreement of August 23, 1973, was not intended as a settlement of any of defendant’s claims for nonperformance of the agree *276 ment and resulting costs, (2) the agreement only related to two items—the sluice gate liner and water quality control liner—and not to all the other material provided by plaintiff, (3) the agreement was intended to cover only some of the costs incurred by defendant due to the defective sluice gate liner and water quality control liner, and (4) at the August 23, 1973, meeting plaintiff agreed to prove to the Corps of Engineers that the corrective work and delays were a result of the Corps’ faulty specifications, but that plaintiff has never done so.

In November of 1973, defendant made an offer to settle all the disputes for $205,985.39, which was rejected by plaintiff. Thereafter, on November 20, 1973, plaintiff commenced an action in Wisconsin state court against defendant, claiming that it had duly performed the contract and was entitled to the remainder of the principal. Further, the complaint sought interest allegedly due under the contract, which had amounted to $82,439.-19 as of November 14, 1973, and was accruing at the rate of $90.27 per day, along with costs and attorney’s fees.

Defendant removed the action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441, and thereafter moved for dismissal on the ground of lack of personal jurisdiction or a transfer of the action. Defendant’s motions were denied on September 6, 1974.

Subsequently defendant filed an answer and counterclaim. The answer denied that plaintiff had performed the contract, and also denied that the agreement of the parties had provided for the payment of interest. Defend-dent’s counterclaim asserted that the materials provided by plaintiff had not conformed to the Corps of Engineers’ specifications, and that as a result of the costs of adjusting and installing the materials supplied by plaintiff and the administrative cost thereby occasioned, defendant had been damaged in the amount of $750,000.

After plaintiff’s motion to strike the answer and counterclaim was denied, it filed a reply and affirmative defense, in which plaintiff denied that the materials it had supplied had not been in conformity with specifications. The affirmative defense set out was that the claims made in defendant’s counterclaim had been settled by the August 23, 1973, agreement.

On November 27,1974, plaintiff served its first set of interrogatories on defendant. On December 5, 1974, plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment in which it sought the relief demanded in its complaint and a dismissal of the counterclaim.

Defendant, on December 26, 1974, filed a motion seeking an extension of time in which to answer plaintiff’s interrogatories.

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400 F. Supp. 273, 21 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 74, 17 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 917, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lakeside-bridge-steel-co-v-mountain-state-construction-co-wied-1975.