Upper Pontalba Building Restoration Corp. v. Pete Vicari General Contractor, Inc.

790 So. 2d 130, 2000 La.App. 4 Cir. 2103, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1753, 2001 WL 767169
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 27, 2001
DocketNo. 2000-CA-2103
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 790 So. 2d 130 (Upper Pontalba Building Restoration Corp. v. Pete Vicari General Contractor, 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
Upper Pontalba Building Restoration Corp. v. Pete Vicari General Contractor, Inc., 790 So. 2d 130, 2000 La.App. 4 Cir. 2103, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1753, 2001 WL 767169 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

hWALTZER, Judge.

The City of New Orleans and the Upper Pontalba Building Restoration Corporation (UPBRC) appeal various judgments in this suit to recover damages under the public bid laws.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On 10 June 1993 the City and the UPBRC sued the lowest bidder, Pete Vi-cari General Contractor and its surety, Ocean Marine Indemnity, for damages constituting the difference between Vi-eari’s bid and the next lowest bid after Yicari failed to do the job, renovation of the Pontalba Building. Vicari and Ocean Marine answered the suit on 10 August 1993. On 19 August 1993, the City and the UPBRC moved for summary judgment. The record contains no evidence to support the motion. After hearing the motion on 22 October 1993, the trial court denied the motion for summary judgment on 23 October 1993.

[132]*132On 22 July 1998, the parties filed a joint stipulation of facts. On 31 July 1998, the UPBRC and the City moved to submit the matter on briefs. Vicari filed a peremptory exception, arguing that the UPBRC had no right of action. Additionally, Vicari filed a supplemental answer and both re-conventional and third Uparty demands.1 On 22 September 1998 Ocean Marine opposed the motion to submit the matter on briefs. By judgment dated 10 November 1998, the trial court granted Vicari’s exception of no right of action, dismissing all claims by the UPBRC.2 Furthermore, the trial court denied the City’s motion to submit the matter on briefs.

In November 1998, Ocean Marine moved for summary judgment, and Vicari moved for summary judgment in December 1998. After hearing the motions on 8 January 1999, the trial court granted the motions by judgment dated 13 January 1999, dismissing the City’s claims against Vicari and Ocean Marine. On 30 June 2000, the trial court certified the partial judgment as a final judgment under LSA-C.C.P. art. 1915.

The City and the UPBRC appeal the various judgments of the trial court, including the denial of their motion for summary judgnent on 23 October 1993, the granting of Vicari’s peremptory exception of no right of action on 10 November 1998, the order denying the motion to submit 'the matter on briefs, and the summary judgments on 13 January 1999, dismissing the claims against Vicari and Ocean Marine.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The City is a public entity. UPBRC is a public benefit corporation, wholly owned by the City. UPBRC’s architect prepared plans and specifications for the restoration of the Upper Pontalba Building. The specification and information related to bidding and contracting the project are contained in the Project Manual Rdated 12 March 1992. The Project Manual’s Section 00010 entitled “Advertisements for Bids,” provides in pertinent part;

F. FINANCING: Bids are being sought to obtain the cost of the project in order to use final cost to obtain financing. If financing does no come forth, the City is not liable to any bidder.

The City ran advertisements of its invitation to bidders for the project in the classified section of three successive editions of The Times-Picayune on 27 March 1992, 30 March 1992, and 3 April 1992. These advertisements do not mention the financing condition for bids on the project. Vi-cari submitted its bid to the City on 8 May 1992. Vicari’s bid bond dated 8 May 1992, guarantees 5% of the bid, with Ocean Marine as surety and the City as obligee. The City opened the bids on 8 May 1992, Vicari submitted the lowest bid, and Gri-maldi Construction, Inc., submitted the second lowest bid. On 14 May 1992, Vicari wrote a letter to the project’s architect, stating its readiness “to proceed' with construction of the project.” On 29 May 1992, the architect wrote a letter to Vicari outlining the bid and stating in pertinent part, “...UPBRC... at its board meeting today accepted your ... bid ... Please be advised that this approval is contingent on the board securing acceptable financing to fund the ... project and official acceptance by the City...” The parties further [133]*133stipulated to the content of various documents, in which the City and the UPBRC’s representatives communicated about the need to obtain extensions of Vicari’s bid past 7 July 1992. By letter dated 30 June 1992, the architect requested such an extension. Vicari agreed to such an extension for acceptance by the City until 7 September 1992 by letter on 7 July 1992. On 2 September 1992, the UPBRC informed Vicari by letter that its Board had “resolved to accept your base bid” at its meeting on 28 August 1992. Moreover, the UPBRC requested an extension of the bid until 21 September 1992, in order to finalize its | ¿construction loan with the bank. On 16 September 1992 UPBRC resolved, “That this Corporation enter into a Construction Contract with ... Vicari ...” On 18 September 1992 Vicari informed plaintiffs’ attorneys that problems had arisen regarding issuance of the performance-payment bond by Ocean Marine. Vicari did not furnish a performance and payment bond, and the City did not enter a contract with Vicari for the project. Vi-cari testified that the only reason it did not enter into a contract for this project concerned its inability to secure the necessary bond. A representative for Ocean Marine stated that the surety believed that Vi-cari’s bid and Ocean Marine’s bid bond expired on 7 July 1992 and that Ocean Marine never received any advance notice of any extension of the time period for acceptance of Vicari’s bid or performance of the bid bond. Moreover, when Vicari contacted Ocean Marine about issuing a performance or payment bond after 7 July 1992, Ocean Marine declined to issue such a bond on this project.

FIRST ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR: The trial court erred by denying the City and the UPBRC’s motion for summary judgment.

The City and the UPBRC sued Vicari and its surety for damages under the public bid laws after Vicari failed to perform the job for which he bid on 10 June 1993. On 19 August 1993, they moved for summary judgment on these claims. They submitted no evidence with their motion. On 23 October 1993, the trial court denied the motion for summary judgment.

The denial of a motion for summary judgment is an interlocutory judgment. Such interlocutory judgments are not ap-pealable unless the party proves irreparable harm. LSA-C.C.P. art. 2083. Kidd v. Independent Fire Insurance Co., 95-1273 (La.App. 4 Cir. 1/19/96), 668 So.2d 406, 408.

15We pretermit an examination of whether the denial of the motion for summary judgment in 1993 is subject to review on appeal, since neither party has briefed or argued the correctness of this procedure. We find no error in the trial court’s judgment denying the City and the UPBRC’s motion for summary judgment in 1993. The City and the UPBRC filed suit to collect damages under the public bid laws against Vicari and its surety. They bore the burden of proof and failed to offer any evidence to support their motion for summary judgment. We affirm the denial of the motion for summary judgment.

SECOND ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR: The trial court erred in denying the City and the UPBRC’s motion to submit the matter for adjudication on briefs and stipulations.

Without determining the correctness of the review of such an interlocutory judgment, we find that the City has failed to demonstrate how the trial court abused its discretion in deciding to conduct a more formal inquiry into the merits. The par[134]*134ties entered a joint stipulation concerning

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790 So. 2d 130, 2000 La.App. 4 Cir. 2103, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 1753, 2001 WL 767169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/upper-pontalba-building-restoration-corp-v-pete-vicari-general-lactapp-2001.