McKay Construction Co. v. Board of Education

33 A.D.2d 862, 306 N.Y.S.2d 52, 1969 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2539
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedDecember 18, 1969
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 33 A.D.2d 862 (McKay Construction Co. v. Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McKay Construction Co. v. Board of Education, 33 A.D.2d 862, 306 N.Y.S.2d 52, 1969 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2539 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

Staley, Jr., J.

Appeal by fourth-party defendant, Kenneth H. Mayhew, from an order of the Supreme Court at Special Term, entered May 1, 1967 in Madison County, insofar as that order denied the motions of the fourth-party defendant, (1) for partial summary judgment dismissing the third cause of action of the complaint; (2) for partial summary judgment dismissing the cross claim against the fourth-party defendant, pleaded in paragraphs 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 of the amended third-party complaint; (3) for partial summary judgment dismissing the cause of action alleged against the third-party defendant, Sargent-Webster-Crenshaw & Folley, pleaded in paragraphs 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 of the amended third-party complaint; and (4) for complete summary judgment dismissing the fourth-party complaint herein. This action arises out of a contract awarded to the plaintiff, McKay Construction Co., Inc., on May 29, 1962 by the defendant, South Lewis Central School, District 1, for the construction of a Junior-Senior High School at Turin, New York. The plaintiff based its bid for the contract in part upon a drawing labeled 101 ”, which constituted the site plan. Based upon this drawing the plaintiff, in preparing its bid, estimated that 26,166 cubic yards of earth would have to be excavated or moved. Earth excavation under the bid was listed at a unit price of $1.50 per cubic yard. The site work was commenced by the plaintiff on June 4, 1962 and within a few days it was discovered that some of the elevations shown on drawing 101 were erroneous. The third-party defendant, Sargent-Webster-Crenshaw & Folley, the project architect, was advised of the errors, whereupon a meeting was held at the site on June 13, 1962 to consider the problem. As the result of this meeting a resurvey of the area was made by the fourth-party defendant, Kenneth H. Mayhew, and a revised site plan drawing labeled JD-3 ” was prepared, signed by the architect, and supplied to the plaintiff. This revised site plan increased the area of the site and, according to the plaintiff, required the excavation or moving of an additional 15,000 cubic yards of earth. Apparently no computation was made at the time of the preparation of the drawing labeled JD-3 ” by any of the parties, and it was not until the site work was completed in the fall of 1962 that an actual computation was made. The architect was then advised by letter that the computation showed additional earth removal. On December 12, 1962 the architect acknowledged receipt of the letter and replied, “I believe the only reasonable way the amount of earth moved can he determined is after the remaining topsoil spreading and grading is completed.” Although the plaintiff several times between December 12, 1962 and January 13, 1964 requested the architect to resolve the question of the yardage involved, it does not appear that this has been done. On March 30, 1964 the plaintiff served a demand for arbitration on the Board of Education. No reply was received to this demand except a letter from the attorney for the board to the effect that he would be in touch with plaintiff’s attorney. In [863]*863November, 1964 a meeting was held at which the disputed items were discussed. In the month of December, 1964 the plaintiff commenced an action which it discontinued shortly thereafter so that a verified notice of claim pursuant to section 50-e of the General Municipal Law could be served on the Board of Education. The notice of claim was served on January 25, 1965, and this action was commenced by service of the summons and complaint on the Board of Education on March 20, 1965. The plaintiff completed its work in August, 1963 and the school was occupied in' September, 1963. The plaintiff asserts that the board has never rejected its claim for additional work, and has never rejected its claim for the balance due on the general contract. Although the contract provides for a certificate of completion, such a certificate has not yet been issued. The third cause of action alleged in the complaint seeks a judgment in the amount of $34,913.70 for additional excavation, stripping, fill, grading, spreading and seeding by reason of the site plan revision. In addition to its answer, the board brought separate actions over against the surveyor and the architects seeking indemnity from them by reason of any judgment which the plaintiff might recover against the board by reason of the third cause of action. The architects then cross-claimed against the surveyor seeking indemnity from him by reason of any judgment over which the board might recover against them by reason of the third cause of action of the complaint. The answer of the surveyor, the appellant herein, to the cross claim of the board consisted of a general denial and affirmative defenses of waiver and failure to comply with statutory notice requirements. His answer to the cross claim by the architects consisted of general denials and an allegation that the original site survey was not owned, ordered, prepared or made for the architects, but was ordered and requested by the Board of Education. The appellant then moved (1) for leave to amend his answer to the cross claim by the board; (2) for partial summary judgment dismissing the third cause of action alleged by the plaintiff; (3) for partial summary judgment dismissing the cross claim of the Board of Education against him; (4) for partial summary judgment dismissing the cross claim of the Board of Education against the architects; (5) for complete summary judgment dismissing the cross claim of the architects against him; and (6) for such other and further relief as to the court may seem just and proper. The motions for summary judgment, in addition to being based upon all the other pleadings, were also based upon the proposed amended answer which was attached to the moving papers. As to the third cause of action in the plaintiff’s complaint, the appellant’s amended answer denied that (1) the additional work for which recovery was sought was ordered in any written order conforming to the requirements of article 15 of the General Conditions forming part of the contract with the board; (2) the existence of any emergency endangering life or property dispensing with the requirements of a written order under said article 15; (3) that the plaintiff before proceeding to perform the alleged additional work, gave written notice to the architects that such work would involve extra cost as required by article 16 of said 'General Conditions; (4) the existence of any emergency endangering life or property dispensing with the requirements of written notice under article 16; and (5) that a written verified claim as required by section 3813 of the Education Law was ever served upon the Board of Education within three months after the accrual of the claims. Special Term granted appellant’s motion for leave to amend and serve the proposed amended answer and denied the motions for summary judgment. The first issue presented on this appeal is whether or not plaintiff complied with the provisions of section 3813 of the Education Law which requires that a written verified claim be presented to the governing body of a school district within three months after the accrual of [864]*864the claim before an action based on the claim shall be prosecuted or maintained against the school district. Plaintiff has alleged and there is no denial that a final certificate of completion has not been issued by the architect in accordance with the requirements of article 5 of the contract. It has generally been held that a claim does not accrue, and the time within which to file a claim does not start to run until the extent of the damages can be ascertained. (Shalman v. Board of Educ. Cent. School Hist.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
33 A.D.2d 862, 306 N.Y.S.2d 52, 1969 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2539, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckay-construction-co-v-board-of-education-nyappdiv-1969.