Lumbermens Mutual Casualty v. United States

90 Fed. Cl. 558, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 693, 2009 WL 4640638
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedNovember 25, 2009
DocketNo. 04-1255C
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 90 Fed. Cl. 558 (Lumbermens Mutual Casualty v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lumbermens Mutual Casualty v. United States, 90 Fed. Cl. 558, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 693, 2009 WL 4640638 (uscfc 2009).

Opinion

ORDER AND OPINION

HODGES, Judge.

Plaintiff issued Miller Act performance and payment bonds for a contract between the Navy and Landmark Construction. Landmark defaulted on the contract, having completed only fifteen percent of the work. The Government had paid Landmark forty percent of the progress payments at default because the Navy had not followed contract procedures required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation and its contract with Lum-bermens.

Lumbermens paid Landmark’s vendors and subcontractors, and hired Atherton Construction to complete Landmark’s contract with the Navy. Lumbermens and Atherton signed a takeover agreement with the Navy. The contract included a provision substituting Atherton for Landmark as the contractor. Lumbermens paid over $3 million to complete the contract. It reimbursed Ather-ton an additional $1 million in liquidated damages assessed by the Government because the contract was seven months past the original completion date. Lumbermens signed the takeover agreement as a surety fulfilling its performance bond obligation, not as a contractor completing a construction project. The Navy did not implement FAR provisions that would have protected the surety, and plaintiff suffered damages as a result. We have jurisdiction to award plaintiff damages for impairment of collateral and to reimburse plaintiff for funds withheld by the Government improperly.

FACTS

The Navy awarded Landmark Construction Company a $9,878,026 contract to repair and renovate 160 military family housing units in Oak Harbor, Washington, in April 2000. The scheduled completion date was October 23, 2002. Landmark furnished Miller Act performance and payment bonds through Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company. See 40 U.S.C. § 3131 (2000). Lum-bermens issued a payment bond for $2.5 million and a performance bond for the contract price.

The Navy paid over $3.8 million on six invoices submitted by Landmark between July and December 2000, until it began to receive complaints from the contractor’s suppliers and subcontractors in January 2001. In response to the complaints, the Navy withheld Landmark’s January 2001 progress payment, but resumed payments after Landmark assured the Navy in February that it would pay the suppliers and subcontractors.

Landmark agreed in February 2001 to a contract modification that added twenty-one housing units to the contract. The Navy authorized $1,884,174 for the additional units, for a contract total of $12,158,663 after modifications. The Navy did not extend the completion date. Lumbermens declined to provide bonding for the additional units, which were not begun prior to Landmark’s default.

Landmark notified the Navy in late June 2001 that it had furloughed all its worksite employees. The Navy warmed against default, then issued a cure notice in mid-July. Landmark abandoned the site soon thereafter. The Navy terminated Landmark’s contract for default on August 2, 2001. Landmark had not received a Notice to Proceed for the additional units before the Navy ter[561]*561minated the contract for default. Liquidated damages were seventy-five dollars per day, per unit.

When the Government terminated Landmark for default, approximately $7.3 million remained to be paid on the contract. The Navy had paid Landmark approximately forty percent of the modified contract by then, though Landmark had completed only twenty-two of 181 units. Fifty-six units were in various states of renovation. The Navy did not maintain records of its payments to Landmark, or verify that materials purchased by Landmark were in its possession. The Navy had no information about the materials the Government had paid for and for which title should have passed to the Navy.

Defendant made demand of the surety under the performance bond, and Lumbermens hired Atherton Construction to complete the contract. Atherton agreed to complete the original contract as modified to include twenty-one units that were not a part of the contract that Lumbermens bonded. Ather-ton contracted with another surety to cover the additional units.

Lumbermens and Atherton signed a separate completion contract. They agreed that Lumbermens would be responsible for liquidated damages assessed by the Government for contract completion between October 23, 2002, and June 22, 2003. Atherton would be liable for assessments after June 22, 2003.

Landmark had been ahead of schedule when it abandoned the job, and it was only two weeks behind schedule when the Navy terminated for default. However, the Government waited five months before signing a new agreement with Lumbermens and Ath-erton. The Navy believed that Atherton could finish the job on time in October 2002, despite the five-month delay. Atherton began work on November 28,2002.

In January 2002, Atherton discovered safety code violations in the electrical work completed by Landmark. The faulty wiring created a “life safety issue” that implicated the critical path, according to Atherton. The Navy did not agree that the wiring caused a life safety issue or that it affected the critical path. Nonetheless, the Navy proposed a contract modification to fix the electrical problems when Atherton and Lumbermens sent a letter holding themselves harmless from liability for the electrical systems.

The Navy denied Atherton’s requests for extensions because of the electrical problems, though Atherton did not resume work until March 2002. The electrical issue had delayed the project forty-six days. The Navy also denied time extensions for completion of the twenty-one units not contemplated by the original contract. As a result, Atherton worked on the new units and the original units concurrently, instead of completing the base units first as it had planned.

Atherton completed the project on June 6, 2003. This was well after the completion date specified in the original contract and in the takeover agreement, but sixteen days before the date agreed to by Atherton and Lumbermens in their separate completion contract. The Government assessed Ather-ton liquidated damages of $721,275 for the base units and $304,800 for the additional units.

DISCUSSION

According to the Government, this court does not have jurisdiction over the takeover agreement because Lumbermens did not submit a claim to the contracting officer. The Contract Disputes Act requires a contractor to submit a claim to the contracting officer before filing suit in this court. 41 U.S.C. § 605 (2000). The CDA applies only to procurement contracts, however, and Lumbermens signed the takeover agreement in its capacity as a surety. See e.g. Coastal Corp. v. United States, 713 F.2d 728, 730 (Fed.Cir.1983) (noting that the CDA applies to “express or implied contracts for the procurement of services and property and for the disposal of personal property.”). A takeover agreement is not a contract for the procurement of materials or services, but an agreement by which the surety agrees to fulfill its obligations under a performance bond.

The Navy did not abide by the payment provisions of its bonded contract with Landmark, according to Lumbermens, and thereby increased the surety’s risk. The Navy [562]

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Related

Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. v. United States
654 F.3d 1305 (Federal Circuit, 2011)

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Bluebook (online)
90 Fed. Cl. 558, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 693, 2009 WL 4640638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lumbermens-mutual-casualty-v-united-states-uscfc-2009.