Southeast Construction, L.L.C. v. War Construction, Inc.

159 So. 3d 1227, 2014 WL 1874676, 2014 Ala. LEXIS 67
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMay 9, 2014
Docket1120618
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 159 So. 3d 1227 (Southeast Construction, L.L.C. v. War Construction, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southeast Construction, L.L.C. v. War Construction, Inc., 159 So. 3d 1227, 2014 WL 1874676, 2014 Ala. LEXIS 67 (Ala. 2014).

Opinions

BRYAN, Justice.

Southeast Construction, L.L.C. (“SEC”), appeals from an order of the Tuscaloosa Circuit Court enforcing, pursuant to this Court’s mandate in Southeast Construction, L.L.C. v. WAR Construction, Inc., 110 So.3d 371 (Ala.2012) (“SEC I”), a previous judgment entered by that court based on an arbitration award in favor of WAR Construction, Inc (‘WAR”). We affirm the judgment in part, reverse it in part, and remand the cause for further proceedings.

Facts and Procedural History

This is the second time this case has been before this Court. The relevant facts, as set forth in SEC I, are as follows:

“On July 12, 2007, SEC and WAR entered into a construction contract pursuant to which WAR, as the general contractor, agreed to build a condominium development in Tuscaloosa known as The Chimes Condominiums (‘The Chimes’) for SEC, as owner. Upon completion of the project, disputes arose between SEC and WAR concerning performance under the construction contract. Pursuant to the contract, those disputes were submitted to binding arbitration ....
“On February 16, 2011, a three-arbitrator panel ruled in favor of both SEC and WAR on their respective claims against one another, resulting in a net award to WAR of $373,929. SEC filed a motion for modification of the award. The arbitration panel issued a modified award on March 16, 2011, in which it stated that the net award to WAR was to be paid by SEC
“ ‘upon [SEC’s] receipt of reasonably appropriate and adequate releases of liens and claims against [SEC], its surety and the project involved in this proceeding from [WAR] and all of [WAR’s] subcontractors/suppliers that filed a lien on the project; provided that, in lieu of a release from such subcontractor/supplier, [WAR] may provide an adequate bond or other adequate security. This shall occur no later than May 13, 2011.’
“Neither party filed- an appeal of the award pursuant to Rule 71B, Ala. R. Civ. P., within 30 days of service of notice of the modified arbitration award.
“On April 22, 2011, WAR filed in the Tuscaloosa Circuit Court a ‘Motion for Clerk’s Entry of Arbitration Award as Final Judgment’ pursuant to Rule 71C, Ala. R. Civ. P. WAR attached a copy of the original arbitration award and the modified award to its motion. On April 25, 2011, SEC filed a response in opposition to WAR’s motion in which it stated that WAR had not fulfilled its obligation of providing SEC with releases of liens [1229]*1229and claims held by WAR and by subcontractors on The Chimes construction project.
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"... [0]n May 9, 2011, following a hearing, the circuit court did enter an order based upon the arbitration award. That order states:
“ ‘1. The documents from the arbitrators dated February 16, 2011 and March 16, 2011 are the awards. The Clerk is directed to enter the two documents from the arbitrators as a judgment under Rule 71(C)(f). Since the arbitrators did not address the issues, circuit court costs should be taxed as paid.
“‘2. The court and clerk are available to enforce the award if it is capable of enforcement through non-discretionary, perfunctory, ministerial acts such as garnishment, execution or other writ as provided in Ala.Code [1975,] § 6-6-13.
“ ‘8. Any issue regarding interpretation, modification, clarification or amendment of the awards should be presented to the arbitrators.
“ ‘4. If a certificate of judgment is requested under Ala.Code [1975,] § 6-9-210, the Clerk would need to determine whether such a request complies with the language of the arbitrators’ awards. No certificate of judgment should be prepared unless it complies with the arbitrators’ awards.
“ ‘The April 27 order is modified as noted above. All other claims are denied.’
“On May 13, 2011, WAR filed what it styled as a ‘Notice of WAR’s Compliance with the Conditions of Judgment.’ In the filing, WAR explained that it had supplied SEC with releases of all liens filed by subcontractors. As to its own lien, WAR ... represented that it ‘does not want to jeopardize its security for the judgment without adequate assurance SEC is going to pay the judgment.’ Thus, WAR attached copies of a signed satisfaction of the judgment and a signed release of WAR’s lien to its filing with the circuit court. WAR proposed that SEC ‘submit payment in full of the judgment’ to WAR’s attorney, the payment to be held in the attorney’s trust account. After payment had been submitted, WAR’s attorney would file the original signed satisfaction of the judgment with the circuit clerk, and he would file the original signed release of the lien in the Tuscaloosa Probate Court. WAR stated that its attorney would not release SEC’s funds to WAR until the release and the satisfaction of the judgment had been filed.
“SEC responded by filing a ‘Notice of WAR’s Noncompliance with Conditions of Judgment.’ In that filing, SEC contended that WAR had not supplied SEC with releases of claims by two subcontractors — Premier Electric Service Company, Inc., or Laco Woodworks, Inc. It also noted that WAR had admitted that it still had not provided SEC with a release of its own lien.
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“On June 7, 2011, SEC appealed from the circuit court’s May 9, 2011, order, arguing that the circuit court erred in entering a judgment on the arbitration award before WAR had fulfilled its obligations under the award. Subsequently, WAR filed a cross-appeal, complaining that the circuit court had failed to take any nonministerial actions to enforce the judgment- [This Court] treat[ed] WAR’s cross-appeal as a petition for a writ of mandamus.”

SEC I, 110 So.3d at 372-75 (footnotes omitted). WAR also filed a motion to [1230]*1230dismiss SEC’s appeal, which was denied in November 2011.

On November 9, 2012, this Court issued its decision in SEC I, addressing SEC’s appeal of the circuit court’s judgment of May 9, 2011 (“the May 9 judgment”), and WAR’s petition for mandamus relief. We rejected SEC’s argument that the May 9 judgment was not enforceable as a final judgment because WAR had not fulfilled its obligation to provide “ ‘reasonably appropriate and adequate releases of liens and claims against [SEC] ’ ” or to “ ‘provide an adequate bond or other adequate security’ ” in lieu of those releases, 110 So.3d at 372, and, therefore, that its obligation to pay WAR had not yet arisen.

SEC also argued that it was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law because the May 13, 2011, deadline for providing the releases had passed and, SEC argued, therefore, WAR could never comply with the award and SEC’s obligation to pay had been extinguished. This Court affirmed the May 9 judgment, stating:

“The final judgment the [circuit] court ordered the clerk to enter based upon the arbitrators’ decision is one that adjudicates the rights and responsibilities of the parties. Accordingly, it is enforceable as a final judgment. In essence, it is a final judgment that requires certain acts of both parties. As such, it contemplates further enforcement, and perhaps interpretative acts, by the circuit court.

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Bluebook (online)
159 So. 3d 1227, 2014 WL 1874676, 2014 Ala. LEXIS 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southeast-construction-llc-v-war-construction-inc-ala-2014.