United States ex rel. Circle-L-Electric Co. v. Hyde Construction Co.

255 F. Supp. 335, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8001
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Oklahoma
DecidedJune 22, 1966
DocketCiv. No. 5994
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 255 F. Supp. 335 (United States ex rel. Circle-L-Electric Co. v. Hyde Construction Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States ex rel. Circle-L-Electric Co. v. Hyde Construction Co., 255 F. Supp. 335, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8001 (N.D. Okla. 1966).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DAUGHERTY, District Judge.

This is a case brought by the use plaintiff under the Miller Act, Title 40 U.S.C., Sections 270a and 270b. The defendant Hyde Construction Company was the general contractor for the Keystone Dam Project. The surety company defendants provided the payment and performance bond for the general contractor pursuant to the Miller Act. The use plaintiff was a subcontractor under Hyde Construction Company doing the elec[337]*337trical work required by Item 38 of the Specifications.

The plaintiff claims that it is due from the defendants the sum of $46,-047.37 for material supplied and labor performed by it pursuant to said subcontract during the period March 27, 1960 through July 19, 1963. The defendants deny the claim of the plaintiff but do admit that there is still unpaid to plaintiff the sum of $2,451.64. However the defendants assert that the plaintiff is barred from recovering this amount since it did not file its complaint herein within one year after the date the last material and labor was supplied and performed pursuant to the limitations provision of the Miller Act. 40 U.S.C., Section 270b. The defendants admit the jurisdiction of this Court and also deny that the plaintiff is entitled to legal fees or interest.

In addition to the balance due on the subcontract of $2,451.64 and a claim for “Interest and Expenses” in the amount of $4,449.60 upon which no proof was offered and which is, therefore, deemed to have been abandoned, it appears from the evidence presented that plaintiff claims it is entitled to a recovery against the defendants on the basis of six separate and distinct items as follows:

Item 1. Plaintiff claims it is due the sum of $447.87 by reason of furnishing Unistrut Supporting Devices for the Project which were not required by the Specifications.

Item 2. Plaintiff seeks to recover the sum of $812.33 as the cost of certain motor controllers furnished to the Project by the plaintiff which the plaintiff claims it was not required to do under the Specifications.

Item S. Plaintiff seeks recovery for the sum of $400.00 for work accomplished in grounding certain of its electrical installations which the plaintiff alleges was in excess of the requirements of the Specifications.

Item It. Plaintiff seeks the recovery of $29,651.49 representing the difference in providing and installing a heavier duct in lieu of the duct prescribed by the Specifications.

Item 5. Plaintiff seeks recovery in the amount of $1514.21 which plaintiff claims it expended for labor in reopening a ditch because the defendant Hyde Construction Company had filled up the ditch after it had promised plaintiff it would not do without notification to the plaintiff since the plaintiff wished to lay a conduit line in this ditch.

Item 6. Plaintiff seeks recovery in the amount of $6,320.28 as its cost in the preparation of lift drawings which plaintiff claims were required of it by the defendant Hyde Construction Company notwithstanding the fact that such lift drawings were not required by the Specifications.

The defendants deny that the plaintiff is entitled to recover against them in any amount including the above mentioned six items for various specific reasons such as that the work involved was work which the plaintiff was required to do and undertook to do as its responsibility under its subcontract on the Project; that no change orders were obtained by plaintiff for any such items as required by the Specifications governing the Project; that the plaintiff, in fact, requested permission to be allowed to substitute one of the items claimed in lieu of that provided by the Specifications; that the defendants did not require the lift drawings but that the same were prepared at the instance of the plaintiff and that with reference to the ditch, if the defendant Hyde Construction Company did back-fill the ditch in violation of its understandsng with the plaintiff that such is not an item that is recoverable under the provisions of the Miller Act inasmuch as this alleged default does not involve materials supplied or labor performed on the Project.

With reference to Item 1 above the Court finds that the plaintiff, by letter dated August 7, 1962, to the Hyde Construction Company, requested permission to use the Unistrut Supporting Device in lieu of “U” bolts as shown by [338]*338the Specifications.1 The evidence discloses that the “U” bolts required by the Specifications were never, in fact, installed. No change order was effected. The requested substitution was approved by the Corps of Engineers at the instance of the plaintiff. Thus, at the request of the plaintiff a substitute was authorized in lieu of an installation required by the Specifications and plaintiff is not entitled to recover the cost of this substituted installation which it requested. The plantiff testified that Hyde wanted the substitute and agreed to pay for the Unistrut. Hyde denies this. The letter written by the plaintiff does not support its position. No other document is submitted. This factual issue is resolved against the plaintiff as plaintiff has not sustained its burden to prove this issue by a preponderance of the evidence.

With reference to Item 2 above the plaintiff and the defendant Hyde Construction Company were engaged in a dispute as to who would be responsible for providing the motor controllers. Section 10-16b (2) of the Specifications provides that motor controllers shall conform to the applicable requirements of the section on electrical work. This is Item 38 which was the responsibility of the plaintiff. Sections 10-19a(l) and (2) of the Specifications provide that the payment for motor controllers and connections between such controllers as well as payment for all other electric wiring, etc., shall be included in the contract price for the item, “Electrical System”. This is Item 38, the responsibility of the plaintiff. The plaintiff makes reference to Section 12-47b(2) of the Specifications as not requiring it to pay for the controllers. This section provides that the sluice gates will be paid for by another and refers to 10-19, supra, regarding appurtenant equipment to the electric motor which section as shown above requires payment by the plaintiff. The Court has little difficulty in deciding that the Specifications clearly provide, as noted above, that the plaintiff is responsible for providing and paying for the motor controllers under Item 38.

With reference to Item 3 regarding grounding, Section 12-10 of the Spec[339]*339ifications provides that the plaintiff shall ground all of its work where there is any possibility of a dangerous voltage being established and any grounding done would have been done in compliance with this general responsibility. Again there was no change order. The Court decides this issue against the plaintiff for a failure on the part of the plaintiff to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that it, in fact, made specific groundings of the cost claimed at the request of Hyde and which were not necessary under the language of said Section 12-10.

With reference to Item 4 the Specifications called for the use of a commercial product known as Korduct in the various lifts built to create the Dam. The plaintiff undertook to use this item and in doing so it became crushed by the weight of the concrete and their attempts to overcome this result by "various means met with failure.

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Bluebook (online)
255 F. Supp. 335, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8001, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-ex-rel-circle-l-electric-co-v-hyde-construction-co-oknd-1966.