Ottinger v. United States

230 F.2d 405
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 24, 1956
DocketNo. 5155
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 230 F.2d 405 (Ottinger v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ottinger v. United States, 230 F.2d 405 (10th Cir. 1956).

Opinion

PICKETT, Circuit Judge.

E. C. Ottinger, doing business as Ot-tinger Construction Company, held a prime- contract with the United States for the construction of thirty-seven powder magazines and the necessary roads, railroads, loading docks, and related work upon the premises of the United-States Naval Ammunition Depot in Mc-Alester, Oklahoma. This action was brought for the use and benefit of C. W. Brown, a subcontractor, under the provisions of the Miller Act1 against the prime contractor and his bondsman, Standard Accident Insurance Company, to recover $16,116.72, which was the balance allegedly due the subcontractor for work and labor performed according to the terms of his contract. Judgment was entered in favor of the subcontractor, (on January 20, 1955), for $7,968.11, together with interest thereon from May 26, 1954. The prime contractor and his bondsman have appealed.

The judgment is challenged on the grounds that the amount of the allowance on some of the items was unsupported by evidence; that there was an overlapping of accounts; and that interest was erroneously allowed.

The subcontract was in the form of a letter written by Ottinger and accepted by Brown. It provided that Brown was to perform certain specific items of work relating to the vegetative cover, erosion control, and similar work on the project, in strict accordance with the specifications of the prime contract. It provided in part:

Item No. Description of Work Unit Price

1. Fertilizing, Seeding & Mulching $225.00 per Acre

2. - .. Riprap Ditch.Checks 4.50 per Sq. Yd.

3. Broadcast Sodding 2.75 per Cu. Yd.

4. Bermuda Ditch Checks 1.25 per Sq. Yd.

5.. Bermuda Slab Sodding 1.25 per Sq. Yd.

6.. Laid-up Riprap - 4.00 per Sq. Yd.

“The unit prices stated above for the various items of work are intended to be full compensation including the cost of all labor, material, fertilizer,, gypsum, seed, rock, equipment, insurance, and all other costs incidental to the complete performance of each item of work excepting that the baled hay required for mulching will be furnished by this Firm.”

The work was fully performed and acr cépted by the Navy, both under the prime [407]*407contract and the subcontract, and the prime contractor was paid in full by the United States.

The trial court found that Brown completed the fertilizing, seeding and mulching of ninety-six and one tenth acres. The defendants contend that not more than eighty-four acres were completed under this item. This difference grows out of the method employed by representatives of the parties in measuring the acreage, and the claim by the defendants that some areas were included which should have been excluded. The surface of the area to be fertilized, seeded and mulched was uneven and included the sides and tops of the igloo-shaped powder magazines. An engineer employed by Brown testified that he used an accepted method of measurement; that he computed the area which had been mulched and found that it contained ninety-six and twelve hundredths acres. An engineer for the defendants, who used a different method, found that there was less acreage in this area.2 The trial court adopted the acreage as found by Brown’s engineer. The finding is supported by substantial evidence, is not clearly erroneous, and is, therefore, binding here. United States v. National Ass’n of Real Estate Boards, 339 U.S. 485, 70 S.Ct. 711, 94 L.Ed. 1007; J. P. (Bum) Gibbons, Inc., v. Utah Home Fire Ins. Co., 10 Cir., 202 F.2d 469; Brown v. American Nat. Bank, 10 Cir., 197 F.2d 911; American Home Fire Assur. Co. of New York v. Mid-West Enterprise Co., 10 Cir., 189 F.2d 528; Shoemaker v. Leeper, 10 Cir., 186 F.2d 372. There is no provisions of the contract which makes measurements of the prime contractor’s engineers binding on the subcontractor on final settlement.

The evidence indicated that some of the work performed by Brown under other items of the subcontract were included in the measurements for determining the mulched areas. Upon questioning by the court, the engineer who made the measurements and computations on Brown’s behalf testified that he measured the mulched area separate and apart from the areas of the other items. It would appear that the questioning by the trial court was for the purpose of determining whether there was an overlapping of the areas computed under the different items. We think, considering all the circumstances of the case, that the finding that there was no such overlapping must be sustained. All the work was done under the supervision and direction of Ottinger, and Brown was entitled to be paid for work which he was directed to do, even though the amount thereof may not have conformed with the specifications of the prime contract. This is particularly true where payments under the subcontract were different from those to be made under the prime contract, and the quantity of the work as shown by the specifications was subject to change.3

The only other question which warrants consideration is the allowance of interest. The subcontract provided that payment would be made to the subcontractor within five days of the date on which the prime contractor received final payment. The Navy made final settlement with the prime contractor on [408]*408May 21, 1954, and the trial court allowed interest on the amount found to be due from May 26, 1954. The defendants contend that the claim is an unliquidated one and that interest should have been allowed only from the date of the judgment. The question is to be determined by reference to the law of Oklahoma. Illinois Surety Co., v. John Davis Co., 244 U.S. 376, 37 S.Ct. 614, 61 L.Ed. 1206; Southern Painting Company of Tennessee v. United States for Use of Silver, 10 Cir., 222 F.2d 431; Continental Casualty Co. v. Clarence L. Boyd Co., 10 Cir., 140 F.2d 115.

In Oklahoma, interest is allowed from the day when a person is entitled “to recover damages certain, or capable of being made certain by calculation, and the fight to recover is vested in him” upon that day. 23 Okl.St.Ann. § 6; Blackwell Oil & Gas Co. v. Mid-Continent Petroleum Corp., 182 Okl. 588, 79 P.2d 227; Abraham v. Stewart Bros. Cotton Co., Inc., 165 Okl. 73, 24 P.2d 992; Travelers Fire Insurance Co. v. Ranney-Davis Mercantile Co., 10 Cir., 173 F.2d 884, certiorari denied 337 U.S. 930, 69 S.Ct. 1495, 93 L.Ed. 1737; Continental Casualty Co. v. Clarence L. Boyd Co., supra; Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v.

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