Odyssea Vessels, Inc. v. A & B Industries of Morgan City, Inc.

94 So. 3d 182, 2011 La.App. 1 Cir. 2009, 2012 WL 2153645, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 852
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 13, 2012
DocketNo. 2011 CA 2009
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 94 So. 3d 182 (Odyssea Vessels, Inc. v. A & B Industries of Morgan City, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Odyssea Vessels, Inc. v. A & B Industries of Morgan City, Inc., 94 So. 3d 182, 2011 La.App. 1 Cir. 2009, 2012 WL 2153645, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 852 (La. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

GAIDRY, J.

|2In this case involving a dispute over a shipbuilding contract, the shipowner appeals a $393,527.00 judgment in favor of the shipbuilder. We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Odyssea Vessels, Inc. (“Odyssea”) solicited bids in the winter of .2005 for the construction of two ninety-four foot vessels. A & B Industries of Morgan City, [185]*185Inc. (“A & B”) issued a bid quotation in January 2006 of $3,752,000.00 per vessel, with the price to include all steel purchasing, fabrication, piping, electrical, painting, engines, generators, underwater gear, carpentry, fenders and general outfitting. The bid from A & B specifically excluded the towing winch, towing winch engine, and electronics from the per vessel price. Odyssea and A & B subsequently entered into two separate vessel construction contracts (one for Hull # 317 and one for Hull # 318) which provided that for the consideration of $3,752,000.00 per vessel, A & B would furnish all facilities, labor, material, supplies, and equipment (except items required by the plans to be furnished by Odyssea) and perform all work necessary to construct the vessels and deliver the completed vessels and their component parts and systems to Odyssea on or before January 4, 2007. Both contracts contained the following pertinent provisions:

3. TIME FOR COMPLETION OF WORK
The work of [A & B] shall be performed at [A & B’s] facilities in Amelia, Louisiana and shall be prosecuted with due diligence without delay or interruption except as may be caused by Acts of God, inclement weather, labor difficulties or disputes, usual holidays and weekends, fires, accidents, difficulty or delays in obtaining labor, supplies, equipment or machinery or other delays beyond the reasonable control of [A & B] and shall thereafter be completed in every detail and particular on or before the 4th day of 2007.
I sin the event of any such delay, the date of completion shall be extended a period equal to the time lost by reason of any said causes, provided [A & B] shall give prompt notice in writing to [Odyssea] of any such delay, stating the cause thereof.
It is agreed that [A & B] shall not be responsible for any delays in completion of the work of [A & B] associated with any work to be performed by [Odyssea] or any late delivery of any [Odyssea] furnished items. Furthermore, [A & B] will not be liable for any liquidated damages or penalties for failure to complete the work of [A & B] within the specified time.
4. CHANGES AND MODIFICATIONS
Subject to the requirements of other work then pending at the facilities of [A & B], the right is reserved by [Odyssea] to make any deductions from or additions to the said specifications on giving due notice in writing to [A & B]; the cost of any such changes to be agreed upon in advance by [A & B] and [Odys-sea] and added to or deducted from the Contract Price. If any such change shall delay the completion of the work of [A & B], [A & B] shall be allowed additional time sufficient to cover such delay. A statement of the increased or reduced cost, or any additional time required, as aforesaid, shall be submitted to [Odys-sea] by [A & B] and shall be approved by [Odyssea] in writing before any such change is made.

An attachment to contract, signed by representatives of both A & B and Odys-sea provides:

It shall be the understanding of both [A & B] and [Odyssea] that a complete drawing package, complete nest tape package, as well as all regulatory bodies drawing submittals and fees shall be considered owner furnished. [A & B] shall construct this vessel in accordance with the owner furnished drawings and specifications and shall be classed as an ABS Loadline vessel only.

On February 1, 2006, almost a month after the signing of the contracts, John [186]*186Arceneaux of A & B sent an email to Chuck Denning of Odyssea describing the delays which had already been encountered:

As we are all aware A & B and Odys-sea Vessels signed construction contracts on 1^4-06 for two 94' tugs. At that time we were all under the impression that Entech & Associates would be able to produce the necessary information needed to start the vessel framing construction almost immediately. However, to date 2-1-06 we still have not gotten the necessary information to start the construction process. We have all been | informed through Entech & Associates that they have incurred some engineering setbacks that were unexpected to them. With that being said A & B Industries would just like to formally notify Odyssea Vessels that we will try our best to recover the lost time but would just like to formally inform you of the delays that we are all experiencing.

Then, on April 6, 2006, three months after signing the contracts, Mr. Arceneaux of A & B sent a letter to Mr. Denning of Odyssea identifying additional delays which had occurred or which were anticipated:

We are all aware that Entech & Associates had some delays at the start of this project due to the vessel being enlarged from 90' to 94', as well as recently losing an employee that was in charge of this project. However, we are just in the beginning phases of construction, and we are concerned that we will incur these problems throughout. Another major problem is that in order to keep our production schedule for the two vessels, we have had to release the nc tapes to Metals USA, and they have already started cutting this material. This means that all of the problems we have incurred on the first boat, we will have the same [problems] with the second vessel construction. At this time it is unknown the manhour delay that A & B has incurred being that we have not fixed alt of the problems yet.
Next are the delays in receiving the remainder of the design package. Items still pending are all superstructure, piping, electrical, shafting, and underwater gear, etc. I have asked for this information on numerous occasions, and have been given a number of different dates. Still to date, we have not received any of this information. We need this information as soon as possible due to we have [to] find the price and order the necessary materials.

On May 2, 2006, Mr. Arceneaux wrote another letter to Mr. Denning requesting that Odyssea demand a set completion date from Entech & Associates, and stating:

Please understand that we have been significantly delayed with this project from the very start with not getting the required information on time; as well as the continuing engineering mistakes.... A & B Industries is in need of the remaining package for this project. With the industry growth that has taken place within the last couple of months, materials are getting very difficult to find, get a timely delivery; as well as the prices are increasing dramatically. [W]e cannot stress enough how much we need this information for one, to keep these vessels within budget, and two, to stay on some sort of timely delivery.

|5Another letter from A & B dated June 12, 2006 states that A & B was still waiting for drawings, and that this was a major delay which would ultimately delay the entire project.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cannata's Supermarket, Inc. v. Cannata
180 So. 3d 355 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2015)
David Trahan v. Morton International, Inc.
493 F. App'x 571 (Fifth Circuit, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
94 So. 3d 182, 2011 La.App. 1 Cir. 2009, 2012 WL 2153645, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 852, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/odyssea-vessels-inc-v-a-b-industries-of-morgan-city-inc-lactapp-2012.