Williams Engineering, Inc. v. Goodyear

480 So. 2d 772
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 10, 1985
Docket85-CA-206, 85-CA-207
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 480 So. 2d 772 (Williams Engineering, Inc. v. Goodyear) 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
Williams Engineering, Inc. v. Goodyear, 480 So. 2d 772 (La. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

480 So.2d 772 (1985)

WILLIAMS ENGINEERING, INC.
v.
David GOODYEAR, Andrew Goodyear, Bart LaRocca, John Leyens and Frank Friedler, Jr.
WILLIAMS ENGINEERING, INC.
v.
WATER MAZE, LTD., David Goodyear, Andrew Goodyear, Bart LaRocca and Frank Friedler, Jr.

Nos. 85-CA-206, 85-CA-207.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

October 10, 1985.
Rehearing Denied January 17, 1986.

*773 Robert E. Leake, Jr., Lawrence A. Mann, Hammett, Leake & Hammett, New Orleans, for plaintiff-appellee.

Russ M. Herman, Steven J. Lane, Herman, Herman, Katz & Cotlar, New Orleans, for defendants-appellants.

Before KLIEBERT, CURRAULT, JR. and GAUDIN, JJ.

CURRAULT, Judge.

This appeal arises from a jury verdict pursuant to a suit for professional engineering fees and a reconventional demand for breach of contract. The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff, Williams Engineering, Inc. (Williams) and against defendants, David Goodyear, Andrew Goodyear, Bart LaRocca, John Leyens and Frank Friedler, Jr. (the "owners") on the main demand. On the reconventional demand, *774 the jury verdict found in favor of the plaintiffs-in-reconvention (the "owners") and against defendant-in-reconvention, Williams.

The facts of the case reveal that in November, 1978, Robert M. Williams, a civil engineer and owner of plaintiff company, was contacted by David Goodyear regarding the use of Williams's services to build a water slide facility. Williams was recommended to Goodyear by Southbend Construction Company (Southbend) who Goodyear had occasion to meet with previously regarding an unrelated matter.

As the bulk of water slide business occurs during summer months when schools are out, the investors were anxious to begin operation by mid-May or early June. Thereafter a meeting between Williams, David Goodyear, Mr. Graham and Mr. Douglas of Southbend was held. At that time no lease had been acquired for the location of the project. A second meeting was held in December, 1978 to discuss Williams's fees, etc., after which Williams sent a professional services contract and letter to Goodyear for approval and signatures of the project investors. The contract provided for the engineer's services to be broken down into several separate phases. Each phase was to be completed and approved prior to the commencement of the next phase.

On January 10, 1979, the owners executed a lease on property on which to construct the water slide; and on January 19, 1979, the Williams contract was signed by the investors.

A third meeting was held on February 8, 1979 between Williams, David Goodyear, Bart LaRocca and John Leyens to determine a rough estimate of the cost of the project and to discuss the feasibility of opening the water slide by the beginning of the summer season. Williams presented a preliminary estimate which was understood by all parties to be unreliable at that stage due to a lack of drawings, surveys, etc. The estimate was in the amount of Four Hundred Nine Thousand Three Hundred Dollars ($409,300). Since the Goodyear group was anxious to complete the project by mid-May or June 1, and the normal method under the contract would take too long, the parties also agreed to convert the project from the normal phase-by-phase design, development and construction method to a "concurrent design construct" or "fast track" method. The "fast track" method required that the designing, drawing and construction of the project would be done concurrently rather than on a phase-byphase basis. The change was made orally and no written amendments were made to the original Williams contract.

In this regard, Williams suggested a cost-plus contract for the contractor chosen to build the project in order to get the project completed as fast as possible and in light of the fact that the contractor would not have the drawings and specifications necessary for bidding. Williams suggested Southbend, whom he believed to be honest based on some business dealings with them in the past. There was also some discussion regarding the estimated cost of the project being higher than expected, but nevertheless the parties agreed to go forward. David Goodyear subsequently contacted Southbend and a meeting was held on February 12, 1979. Thereafter a proposal was submitted, accepted and incorporated into a formal contractor's cost-plus contract prepared by Williams as agreed upon. The Southbend contract was executed on March 2, 1979 by the "owners" and on March 6, 1979 by Southbend. Construction began immediately thereafter and the water slide facility was opened on August 4, 1979.

During the period of construction, Williams invoiced the owners according to the method described in the Williams's contract. Williams's fee, according to the contract, was to be initially computed on Williams's opinion of the net construction cost, times the percentage rate, which was to be determined from a curve based on the complexity of a project. However, the contract formulated on the phase-by-phase basis, envisioned varying net construction costs as the project progressed with Williams to *775 ultimately receive a percentage of the actual construction costs. The net construction cost actually utilized by Williams remained the same amount of $409,300 which was initially projected as the costs by Williams. That figure was not further updated during the progress of the project since no further estimates were prepared. During the construction, Williams was paid approximately Forty Thousand Dollars ($40,000).

After the slide was opened in August, 1979, the owners were presented with an actual cost of the slide of Eight Hundred Thirty Thousand Dollars ($830,000) and the final actual cost was in excess of Nine Hundred Ninety Thousand Dollars ($990,000).

The owners then refused to pay Williams Thirty-Six Thousand One Hundred Forty-Four Dollars ($36,144) owed on the final actual costs; and on December 4, 1979, Williams filed suit to collect the remaining portion of the fee. The owners reconvened against Williams and his insurer, American Motorist Insurance Company, for breach of contract.

Jury trial of the matter was held December 1 through December 9, 1983. On the main demand, the jury awarded Williams a fee of Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000) plus attorney fees in the amount of Twenty-Three Thousand Dollars ($23,000); expert witness fees totalling Five Thousand Nine Hundred Twenty-Five Dollars ($5,925); litigation expenses of Two Thousand Eight Hundred Dollars ($2,800); and court costs. On the reconventional demand, Williams was found to have breached the contract and the owners were awarded One Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($125,000) plus expert fees totalling Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000) and court costs.

Thereafter both Williams and the owners perfected appeals of the jury verdict.

Appellants, David Goodyear, Andrew Goodyear et al and Watermaze, Ltd., assert the following as error:

that (1) the jury erred in awarding appellee, Williams Engineering, Inc. $25,000 professional fees; $23,000 attorney's fees' and $7,725 expert fees and costs in that an engineer is not entitled to compensation when he breaches the terms and conditions of his construction contract with the owners for whom he is agent; and that

(2) the jury erred in awarding appellants, Bart LaRocca, Frank Friedler, Jr., Andrew Goodyear, David Goodyear, Mrs. John Leyens[1]

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Bluebook (online)
480 So. 2d 772, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-engineering-inc-v-goodyear-lactapp-1985.