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

446 F. Supp. 1163, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18856
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedMarch 23, 1978
DocketCiv. A. No. 73-C-649
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 446 F. Supp. 1163 (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., 446 F. Supp. 1163, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18856 (E.D. Wis. 1978).

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 in the Gathright Dam and Reservoir in Gathright Lake, Virginia. Plaintiff is seeking $285,-938.10 as the principal amount owing under the contract, plus interest, and defendant has counterclaimed for $750,000 in damages for the alleged nonconformity to specifications of certain materials supplied by plaintiff to defendant for incorporation into the dam.

Earlier in this action the plaintiff moved for summary judgment on its complaint and for dismissal of the counterclaim, alleging that the claims made in defendant’s counterclaim had been settled by a handwritten agreement entered into on August 23,1973, by Gordon C. Behnke, the vice president of plaintiff, and Dean E. Lewis, the president of defendant. Defendant opposed the motion, alleging that the August 23 agreement was not intended by the parties as a complete settlement of defendant’s claims. Plaintiff in turn asserted that parol evidence is not admissible to vary or contradict the terms of the written agreement.

The Court denied plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment in a decision and order dated September 3, 1975, reasoning that since the defendant had denied, in its answer to the complaint, that plaintiff had duly performed under the contract, and plaintiff had submitted no affidavits to establish that it had, there was an issue of material fact in dispute.

The Court also denied plaintiff’s motion to dismiss, reasoning in part that while parol evidence is not admissible to vary or contradict the terms of a writing “intended [1165]*1165by the parties as a final expression of their agreement” pursuant to § 402.202, Wis. Stats., it is admissible for the purpose of determining whether or not the agreement was intended as a final expression of the parties’ agreement. See also Danielson v. Bank of Scandinavia, 201 Wis. 392, 230 N.W. 83 (1930), wherein three tests are set forth at 398-399, 230 N.W. at 85 for determining what parts of a transaction were reduced to writing and what parts were permitted by the parties to remain in parol:

“ * * * (1st) whether a particular subject of negotiation is embodied in the writing depends wholly upon the intent of the parties thereto; (2d) this intent must be sought in the conduct and language of the parties and in the surrounding circumstances; (3d) in deciding upon this intent, the chief and most satisfactory index for the judge is found in the circumstance whether or not the particular element of the alleged extrinsic negotiation is dealt with at all in the writing. If it is mentioned, covered, or dealt with in the writing, then presumably the writing was meant to represent all of the transaction on that element; if it is not, then probably the writing was not intended to embody that element of the negotiation. 5 Wigmore, Evidence (2d ed.) § 2430.”

In a decision and order dated September 22, 1977, the Court further ruled that it is a matter of law for the Court and not for the trier of fact to determine whether such agreement is intended as final. Accordingly, a hearing was held on October 31, 1977, at which the parties presented evidence of the circumstances surrounding their entering into the agreement. On the basis of that testimony and of the exhibits and other materials then submitted to the Court for consideration, the Court has now determined that the August 23, 1973, writing was intended by the parties as a final and complete expression of their agreement. Therefore, parol evidence will not be admitted to vary, contradict, or supplement the terms of the agreement.

In addition, based on the statement of uncontested and contested facts submitted to the Court by the parties on February 11, 1977, the Court has determined that the plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment on its complaint and to judgment in the amount of $285,938.10, which is the principal amount due and owing under the contract, plus interest. As stated above, the Court earlier declined to grant summary judgment for the plaintiff on the basis that there was an issue of material fact with regard to whether or not plaintiff had duly performed under the contract. The Court has now determined that this issue is not relevant to its decision (see discussion below) and, therefore, summary judgment should now be granted for the plaintiff.

The agreement of August 23, 1973, provides:

“Gathright Dam — Corps of Engrs contract DACW-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 State Construction Co. as time extensions to their contract completion date for occurances [sic] during the period from August 7, 1972 to September 22, 1972.”

Prior to the meeting on August 23, 1973, defendant had informed plaintiff that it was having difficulty with the field installation of materials fabricated by the plaintiff, including the sluice gates, the splash plate liner, the sluice gate liner, and the water quality control liner, and that it had suffered construction delays as a result. Defendant’s answer to interrogatory number 9(c) indicates that defendant had completed all corrective work on the materials supplied by plaintiff by July 1973. Two meetings were thereafter held between rep[1166]*1166resentatives of the plaintiff and of the defendant, on August 8 and August 23, 1973, to discuss the alleged defects in the materials. As all of the witnesses testified, all of the claimed items of damage and alleged defects in the materials were discussed at those meetings. (Tr. at 25, 26, 77, 78, 108, 119, 125-26, 142, 148.)

The final figure of $11,317.00 set forth in the agreement is close in amount to the figure computed by Mr. Swanson, an employee of defendant, during the August 23 meeting as being the cost incurred by defendant for repair work on the sluice gate liner and water quality control liner. (See Exhibit 5.) Defendant asserts that this similarity in amount indicates that the agreement was intended to cover only those two items; indeed, only a portion of the damages for those two items, and not the major alleged item of defendant’s costs, i. e., the sluice gates.

There is no such limitation on the face of the agreement itself, however, which rather purports to cover “all direct costs incurred to date.” Thus, the similarity of figures is equally indicative of a determination, or a compromise reached in the course of negotiation, that defendant had in fact suffered no other damages attributable to plaintiff’s supplying nonconforming materials. Despite defendant’s present assertion that it did not intend to compromise its claim on the sluice gates, the evidence presented to the Court indicates that the gates were discussed at the two August meetings and that defendant did not attempt to except the gates from the settlement reached, nor did it ever present a claim in a specific amount to the plaintiff in reference to the sluice gates.

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Bluebook (online)
446 F. Supp. 1163, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18856, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lakeside-bridge-steel-co-v-mountain-state-construction-co-wied-1978.