Lobao v. Leahy

2008 Mass. App. Div. 7, 2008 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 11
CourtMassachusetts District Court, Appellate Division
DecidedJanuary 2, 2008
StatusPublished

This text of 2008 Mass. App. Div. 7 (Lobao v. Leahy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts District Court, Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lobao v. Leahy, 2008 Mass. App. Div. 7, 2008 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 11 (Mass. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

Greco, P.J.

This is an appeal by the plaintiff, Darlene Lobao ("Lobao”), of the allowance of summary judgment in favor of the defendants, Christopher J. Leahy (“Leahy”) and his employer, Millenium Engineering, Inc. (“Millenium”). Lobao’s complaint sought damages from both defendants for their alleged negligence and violations of the Consumer Protection Act, G.L.c. 93A. Lobao claimed that she hired Millenium to draw up a plan to show how her home in Salisbury could be connected to the town sewer system; that the plan Leahy prepared indicated that the gas line to her house was beside the town sewer line and would not, therefore, interfere with the sewer hook-up; that when her contractor began excavating, it was discovered that the gas line was not located where Leahy had indicated and was obstructing the connection to the sewer system; that to complete the hook-up required extra work, at an added cost; and that she was required to seek further financing to cover the added expense. Thus, Lobao sought reimbursement from the defendants for the cost of the second financing, as well as for unspecified “extra expenses” and attorney’s fees. Lobao also sought recovery for mental distress.

Based on the Mass. R. Civ. E, Rule 56, materials submitted to the motion judge, the following facts are not in dispute. Before drawing up his sewer connection plan, Leahy made several visits to the site. However, to determine the location of the gas line, Leahy relied solely on a map provided by Keyspan Energy Delivery (“Keyspan”), the utility that supplies gas to Lobao’s residence on Lafayette Road in Salisbury. Leahy never asked Keyspan to come out to the site and verify the location of the gas line. Nor did he request that a representative of the “Dig Safe Program” go to the site to locate the gas line. Instead, on the plan itself, Leahy indicated that “the contractor shall verify the location of existing utilities and shall coordinate with Digsafe at least 72 hours prior to excavation.” However, Millenium gives its homeowner-clients an information sheet that states that its “staff researches record information, schedules preliminary site evaluations and notifies contractors for DIG-[8]*8SAFE.” The Keyspan map utilized by Leahy did not accurately depict the location of the gas line; and, as noted, the gas line did, in fact, obstruct a hook-up of Lobao’s property to the town sewer system.

Lobao failed to offer any evidence to dispute Leahy’s assertions in his deposition that there was nothing to indicate to him that the Keyspan plan was incorrect, and that he had used the plan on other projects without encountering any problems.

According to Lobao’s January 15,2004 demand letter, the original cost of the project was estimated to be $15,000.00. Lobao claimed that she had to borrow an additional $8,000.00 (i.e., $7,500.00, plus $500.00 in attorney’s fees) to cover the cost of the extra work caused by the location of the gas line. It is not clear whether the $500.00 amount was the only cost incurred in connection with Lobao’s refinancing. In August of 2003, she had notified Millenium that it cost her $2,800.00 to refinance the project, a figure that seems implausible on its face. In response to Lobao’s demand letter, Millenium made “a written tender of settlement,” G.L.c. 93A, §9(3), in the amount of $1,695.00, which Lobao rejected.

To prevail on their motion for summary judgment, Leahy and Millenium were required, as the moving parties, to “show that there [was] no genuine issue as to any material fact and that [they were] entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Mass. R. Civ. E, Rule 56 (c). A moving party’s burden may be satisfied by demonstrating that proof of “an essential element of the plaintiff’s case ... is unlikely to be forthcoming at trial.” Flesner v. Technical Communications Corp., 410 Mass. 805, 809 (1991). “Summary judgment is seldom granted in a cause of action alleging reckless or negligent conduct, but this is not an absolute rule.” Nunez v. Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Inc., 448 Mass. 170, 174 (2007). See also Nota Constr. Corp. v. Keyes Assocs., Inc., 45 Mass. App. Ct. 15, 20 (1998).

1. The Negligence Claim. The following standard to which architects and engineers must adhere was set forth by the Supreme Judicial Court in Klein v. Catalano, 386 Mass. 701, 718-719 (1982):

Architects, doctors, engineers, attorneys, and others deal in somewhat inexact sciences and are continually called upon to exercise their skilled judgment in order to anticipate and provide for random facts which are incapable of precise measurement. The indeterminable nature of these factors makes it impossible for professional service people to gauge them with complete accuracy in every instance.... Because of the inescapable possibility of error which inheres in these services, the law has traditionally required, not perfect results, but rather the exercise of that skill and judgment which can be reasonably expected from similarly situated professionals.

Id. at 718-719, quoting Mounds View v. Walijarvi, 263 N.W.2d 420, 424 (Minn. 1978). Here, a mistake was made. However, that mistake, standing alone, would not necessarily have precluded the allowance of Leahy’s motion for summary judgment. The issue on summary judgment is whether Leahy demonstrated that Lobao will be unable to prove that he failed to “exercise ... that skill and judgment which can be reasonably expected from” an engineer asked to draw up a sewer connection plan. At least with respect to the negligence count, it does not matter that Lobao intended to connect to the town sewer line regardless of where the gas line was located, and that Leahy’s plan did not result in such action. Cf. Nota Constr. Corp., supra at 21.

[9]*9In seeking summary judgment, Leahy relies on the undisputed evidence that he visited the site; that he obtained from Keyspan “copies of available... maps and plans pertinent to the survey” as required by the Code of Massachusetts Regulations, 250 CMR 6.02(1) (a) (2); that he relied on those plans; and that he had relied on Keyspan’s plans in the past without experiencing a problem. He also correctly notes that the obligations imposed by G.L.c. 82, §40 et seq., the “Dig Safe” Law, do not apply to him. That law and the regulations promulgated under it, 220 CMR 99.00 et seq., require that an “excavator” notify “the underground plant damage prevention system,” G.L.c. 82, §40, of the area to be excavated, which notice will trigger the obligation of a company supplying gas to the site to “designat[e] the location of the underground facilities.” See G.L.c. 82, §40A and §40B. Leahy clearly was not an excavator, which is defined as “any entity... which performs excavation operations,” i.e., an operation involving the “movement or removal of earth, rock or the materials in the ground.” G.L.c. 82, §40.

However, Leahy testified in his deposition that the location of the gas line “would have been determined through ... visual observations, location of the gas meter, things of that nature,” which he did not do, but which he believed were done by somebody, although he did not know who. He also testified that he did not request Keyspan to go to the site and identify the location of the gas line, and that he did not know the age of the plan on which he relied. Such evidence raises a factual issue as to whether Leahy was negligent in simply relying on the Keyspan plan that had been archived, for however long, in his own office.

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Related

City of Mounds View v. Walijarvi
263 N.W.2d 420 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1978)
Flesner v. Technical Communications Corp.
575 N.E.2d 1107 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1991)
Klein v. Catalano
437 N.E.2d 514 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1982)
Meyer v. Wagner
709 N.E.2d 784 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1999)
Nunez v. Carrabba's Italian Grill, Inc.
859 N.E.2d 801 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2007)
Fox v. F & J Gattozzi Corp.
672 N.E.2d 547 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1996)
Nota Construction Corp. v. Keyes Associates, Inc.
694 N.E.2d 401 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1998)
SMS Financial V, LLC v. Conti
865 N.E.2d 1142 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2008 Mass. App. Div. 7, 2008 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 11, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lobao-v-leahy-massdistctapp-2008.