Roussalis v. Apollo Electric Co.

979 P.2d 493, 1999 Wyo. LEXIS 50, 1999 WL 243427
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedApril 27, 1999
Docket98-166
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 979 P.2d 493 (Roussalis v. Apollo Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roussalis v. Apollo Electric Co., 979 P.2d 493, 1999 Wyo. LEXIS 50, 1999 WL 243427 (Wyo. 1999).

Opinion

HILL, Justice.

John E. Roussalis II (Roussalis) appeals from a judgment entered by the district court in favor of Apollo Electric Co. (Apollo).

We affirm.

ISSUES

Roussalis presents four issues for consideration:

1. Did the trial court err in awarding unjust enrichment damages in the amount of $73,930.08 where the Appellee sued for breach of contract and accepted the benefit of a $43,673.15 partial summary judgment under breach of contract theory?
2. Did the trial court err in awarding unjust enrichment damages in light of Ap-pellee’s unclean hands?
3. Did the trial court err in the measure of damages applied to Appellee’s unjust enrichment claim?
4. Should the case be remanded to the district court with instructions to enter judgment against Appellee and in favor of Appellant for the $10,214.00 in carrying charges improperly assessed against, and paid by, Appellant on summary judgment?

Apollo did not present a separate statement of the issues.

FACTS

This dispute has its genesis in an October 1995 fire at the Aristo Building located in Casper, Wyoming. The Aristo Building, which was partially owned by Roussalis, contained several businesses on the ground floor with residential apartments on the upper level. The post-fire inspection by the City electrical inspector culminated in a determination that the entire building’s electrical system should be re-wired. Apollo was contacted to provide the necessary re-wiring work and began the project in November of 1995.

The subsequent dispute and legal proceedings associated with the work on the Aristo Building were virtually guaranteed by the fact that no written estimates, bids, work orders, or contracts for the electrical work ever were created by the parties. As described by the trial judge in the Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Judgment, the testimony offered by the parties on the discussions between them “relative to [the] estimated costs, ongoing costs,. performance of the electrical work, difficulties with the performance of the electrical work, requirements of the electrical work to be performed to assure that the building would pass inspection by the City of Casper, discounts on the materials and/or labor to be furnished on the project, and limitations or caps on the dollar amount to be charged by [Apollo] for the labor and materials furnished on the project” was, to say the least, “inconsistent, diffuse, and contradictory.”

What is undisputed is that Apollo worked on the project over a period of approximately four months, and submitted six billing invoices to Roussalis as follows:

Invoice Date Amount
12/15/95 $10,114.94
12/29/95 $10,698.04
01/26/96 $13,112.31
02/09/96 $11,839.79
02/23/96 $ 7,890.96
03/29/96 $22,356.76

In total, Apollo billed $76,012.80 for the work on the Aristo Building.

Roussalis did not pay any of the bills, although he did initial a January 31, 1996, billing statement that summarized the first three billings totaling $33,925.29. Confronted with Roussalis’ failure to pay, Apollo filed an action in the district court on July 1,1996, for the recovery of $75,998.84 for “goods and services delivered to” Roussalis. On February 12, 1997, Apollo filed a motion for summary judgment on its claim.

The district court granted a partial summary judgment on April 23, 1997, concluding that, by initialing the January 31, 1996, billing summary, Roussalis had agreed to pay the first three invoices. Judgment was entered against Roussalis for the $33,925.29, along with a carrying charge totaling $9,747.86, for a total of $43,673.15. The district court denied Apollo’s summary judgment motion for the remaining three invoices *495 on the grounds that there were issues of material fact remaining on those claims.

Prior to trial on the remaining invoices, Roussalis paid $44,139.29 in satisfaction of the partial summary judgment. A bench trial on the remaining claims was held on February 2, and 3, 1998. At the commencement of the trial, the district court noted that Apollo’s proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law suggested that the theory of recovery was unjust enrichment. The district court stated that the complaint indicated Apollo was proceeding under a contract theory, but, based upon the fact that a pleading may be amended to conform to the evidence, the district court concluded that an unjust enrichment claim was within the purview of the general complaint.

As previously noted, the presentation of consistent facts was marred by contradictory testimony from the parties regarding what was said by whom in relation to the work that was performed on the Aristo Building. In general, Roussalis’ position was that Apollo consistently exceeded its estimated costs for the project. In addition, Roussalis introduced evidence that Apollo had charged for hours which were unsupported by time sheets, and that the authorization for the carrying charge on January 31, 1996, was stamped on the billing summary after Rous-salis initialized it. In contrast, Apollo introduced evidence that it had never given a definitive estimate of the cost of the project, and that Roussalis, aware of the ongoing costs, never told them to cease working. Indeed, Apollo offered testimony that Roussalis simply conveyed to the company the message to “get the work done” and to do the work necessary to “bring the building up to code.”

The district court concluded that the services and materials furnished by Apollo were accepted, used, and enjoyed by Roussalis and, consequently, Apollo was entitled to recover the last three invoices under a theory of unjust enrichment. The total of the three invoices of $42,087.51 was offset by the labor costs that were unsupported by time cards. In addition, the district court concluded that the carrying charge to the January 31, 1996, billing summary, which was the subject of the partial summary judgment ruling, was added after that document was initialed by Roussalis, and, therefore, the recovery was further offset by the amount attributable to the carrying charge. After taking into account the offsets and the amount already paid by Roussalis, the district court awarded Apollo an additional $29,791.51, plus costs and interest at the legal rate from the date of judgment until paid.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The trial court made express findings of fact and conclusions of law. The factual findings of a judge are not entitled to the limited review afforded a jury verdict. Hopper v. All Pet Animal Clinic, Inc., 861 P.2d 531, 538 (Wyo.1993). While the findings are presumptively correct, the appellate court may examine all of the properly admissible evidence in the record. Id. Due regard is given to the opportunity of the trial judge to assess the credibility of the witnesses, and our review does not entail weighing disputed evidence. Id.

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979 P.2d 493, 1999 Wyo. LEXIS 50, 1999 WL 243427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roussalis-v-apollo-electric-co-wyo-1999.