North Star Service, Inc. v. New England Sports Management Corp.

7 Mass. L. Rptr. 491
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedSeptember 3, 1997
DocketNo. 953685
StatusPublished

This text of 7 Mass. L. Rptr. 491 (North Star Service, Inc. v. New England Sports Management Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
North Star Service, Inc. v. New England Sports Management Corp., 7 Mass. L. Rptr. 491 (Mass. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

McHugh, J.

This is a dispute arising out of a construction contract. Under the contract, plaintiff, North Star Service, Inc., was to perform certain site preparation work for a hockey rink defendant, New England Sports Management Corporation, was building. Disputes arose with respect to a variety of matters and the parties were unable to resolve those disputes. This action followed.

Both sides now have moved for summary judgment. Defendant contends that plaintiffs claims are unsupportable as a matter of law and thus that judgment should enter in its favor. Plaintiff asserts that, not only are its claims valid, but that, on the present record, it has conclusively established defendant’s liability. In addition, plaintiff seeks summary judgment dismissing defendants’ counterclaims.

For the following reasons, the motions are decided in the following fashion:

1. Loam and Stump Removal

The contract between the parties stated that plaintiff was to

. . . [P]repar[e] . . . the site in accordance with the Sasaki Associates, Inc. Project Manual, SA 31655.04. The Contractor’s [i.e., plaintiffs] scope of work shall conform to the following:
A. Site preparation in accordance with Section 02100 of SA 31655.04 (Attachment A).
B. Earthwork in accordance with Section 02200 of SA 31655.04 (Attachment A).

Contract, §1.1. The contract further obligated plaintiff to “comply with all the requirements specified in the Project Manual and referenced documents and Order of Conditions, DEP File No. 212-546 (Attachment B).” Contract, §1.2.

Section 02200, Part 1.01, ofthe Project Manual was entitled “Work Included” and required plaintiff to do the following with respect to “earthwork;”

[492]*492Provide all equipment and materials, and do all work necessary to complete the earthwork which includes, but is not necessarily limited to the following:
1. Site excavation, filling, and rough grading to the limits indicated on the drawings.
2. Preparation of sub grade for footings, foundations, slabs, and landscaping. •
3. Sheeting, bracing and support of excavations as necessary.
4. Drainage and dewatering as necessary to perform work in the dry.
5. Placement and compacting of fills as required to achieve rough grades indicated.

Section 02200, Part 1.06, of the Project Manual dealt with “existing conditions” and said that

A. The Contractor shall become thoroughly familiar with the site, consult records and drawings of adjacent structures and of the existing utilities and their connections, and note all conditions which may influence the work of this Section.
B. By submitting a bid, the Contractor affirms that he has carefully examined the site and all conditions affecting work under this Section. No claim for additional costs will be allowed because of lack of full knowledge of existing conditions.
C. The Contractor may, at his own expense, conduct additional subsurface testing as required for his own information.

Part 1.07 of Section 02200 of the Project Manual was entitled “Information Not Guaranteed." That section provided as follows:

A. Information on the Drawings and in the Project Manual and Specifications relating to subsurface conditions, natural phenomena, and existing utilities and structures is from the best sources presently available. Such information is furnished only for the information and convenience of the Contractor, and the accuracy or completeness of this information is not guaranteed.
B. Plans, surveys, measurements, and dimensions under which the work is to be performed are believed to be correct, but the Contractor shall have examined them for himself during the bidding period, as no additional compensation will be made for errors and inaccuracies that may be found therein.
C. A “Preliminary Geotechnical Evaluation,...” has been prepared ... for use by the Site Engineer and Architect in the design of the project. A copy of this report is included as Appendix A.1

The Preliminary Geotechnical Evaluation appended to the contract contained test-boring diagrams and other information customarily found in such documents.

The final contractual document of immediate relevance had to do with the contract price. Section 3.1 of the Contract, entitled “Total Price” provided as follows:

The total contract price is agreed to be $300,250 allocated as follows:
a. Tree Work — Tree clearing, stumping site, stump removal2 $32,500
d. Earth work — strip, stockpile and respread 2,000 yards of loam at 6-inch side depth on areas to be seeded for grass $9,300 Cut and fill 128,000 yards of earth $215,000

Against that backdrop, plaintiff makes two initial claims. First, it contends that it discovered a large group of buried tree stumps which, at substantial extra expense, it was required to excavate and grind up. Those buried tree stumps were not mentioned in the Plans, Specifications or Drawings and neither party anticipated their existence. Plaintiff claims, therefore, that it should be awarded extra compensation for the time and effort required to remove the tree stumps.

Second, plaintiff contends that it was required to, and did, remove more than 2,000 yards of loam and more than 128,000 yards of earth. It removed more than 2,000 yards of loam because it discovered a buried pocket of loam that neither party had anticipated and was required to remove that buried pocket before it could proceed with its other work.

Defendant maintains that the contract made no provision for extra payments for removal of unanticipated stumps, loam, earth or anything else and, indeed, expressly disclaimed the accuracy of the measurements the contract contained. According to defendant, plaintiff thus is entitled to no additional payments.

This was an integrated contract, i.e., the complete and final expression of the parties’ agreement. See generally, e.g., Ryder v. Williams, 29 Mass.App.Ct. 146, 150 (1990). Interpretation of the unambiguous terms of an integrated contract presents a question of law for the court. Lawrence-Lynch Corp. v. Department of Environmental Management, 392 Mass. 681, 682 (1984).

Here, dealing first with the tree stumps, there is no provision in the contract specifically dealing with buried stumps. Unlike some contracts, particularly those governing state and federal construction projects, there are no contractual provisions calling for price adjustments when unexpected conditions are encountered. Compare, e.g. Sutton Corp. v. Metropolitan District Commission, 423 Mass. 200, 205 n. 11 (1996); G.L.c. 30, §39N. On the contrary, the provisions of the contract quoted above not only required the contractor, here the plaintiff, thoroughly to familiarize itself with site conditions, but also expressly stated that contractual information regarding subsurface condi[493]

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Bluebook (online)
7 Mass. L. Rptr. 491, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/north-star-service-inc-v-new-england-sports-management-corp-masssuperct-1997.