Worthington Air Conditioning Co. v. Lincoln & Lane Co.

261 A.2d 853, 106 R.I. 575, 1970 R.I. LEXIS 958
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedFebruary 11, 1970
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 261 A.2d 853 (Worthington Air Conditioning Co. v. Lincoln & Lane Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Worthington Air Conditioning Co. v. Lincoln & Lane Co., 261 A.2d 853, 106 R.I. 575, 1970 R.I. LEXIS 958 (R.I. 1970).

Opinion

Powers, J.

This is a civil action predicated on a Labor and Material Payment Bond. It was heard by a Superior Court justice on the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and the defendant Aetna Insurance Company’s cross motion. From a final judgment accordingly entered, the plaintiff seasonably appealed to this court.

The pleadings establish that plaintiff, as subcontractor under a written agreement with Lincoln & Lane Co. as principal contractor, furnished air conditioning equipment to [576]*576the value of $5,008.01, which was used by said principal contractor in connection with work performed in the Cranston City Hall, under a contract for such work between the City of Cranston and the principal contractor. The plaintiff, having never been paid for the material thus furnished, commenced the instant action against Lincoln & Lane Co. and Aetna Insurance Company as principal and surety respectively on the bond to which reference has been previously made.1

In its complaint, plaintiff, alleging that it was a claimant as defined by the terms of the Labor and Material Payment Bond on which Aetna was surety, further alleged that it was entitled to be paid by Aetna by reason of paragraph 2 of said bond, which paragraph provides:

“2. The above named Principal and Surety hereby jointly and severally agree with the Owner that every claimant as herein defined, who has not been paid in full before the expiration of a period of ninety (90) days after the date on which the last of such claimant’s ■work or labor was done or performed, or materials were furnished by such claimant, may sue on this bond for the use of such claimant, prosecute the suit to final judgment for such sum or sums as may be justly due claimant, and have execution thereon. The Owner shall not be liable for the payment of any costs or expenses of any such suit.”

Aetna, answering, set up as a defense, in essence, that plaintiff was not a claimant within the meaning of the bond [577]*577in that the bond was given to the City of Cranston as required by G. L. 1956, §37-13-13, as amended by P. L. 1965, chap. 77, sec. I.2 That it was not a claimant, Aetna further alleges, results from plaintiff’s failure to file with the city treasurer of the City of Cranston, and within the time required, written statements describing charges incurred for labor and materials furnished as well as its failure to file a written claim setting forth the items of labor or materials furnished, all as required by and pursuant to §37-12-2 and §37-12-10, as amended. (See Appendix for sec. 2 of chap. 12 of title 37, and for sec. 10 of said chapter and title as amended by sec. 1 of chap. 183 of P. L. 1961.)

However, in its complaint, plaintiff alleges that it gave all written notices required to be given pursuant to the terms and conditions of the bond, but did not allege that it had complied with the notice requirements of §37-12-2 and §37-12-10, as amended.

On this state of the pleadings, plaintiff, invoking Rule 56 of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure, filed a motion for summary judgment on the issue of Aetna’s liability on the bond described in plaintiff’s complaint.

Aetna filed a cross motion for summary judgment on the ground that, as a matter of law, defendant did not undertake to pay plaintiff since plaintiff did not comply with §37-12-2.

Neither party filed supporting affidavits and the Superior [578]*578Court justice, in passing on their motions, concluded that, as to the question of notice, a genuine issue of a material fact might be said to exist, as a consequence of which he felt that he was required to deny each motion without prejudice. However, anticipating that the record would hereafter be so supplemented as to raise a pure question of law as to Aetna’s liability, the Superior Court justice proceeded to consider the arguments advanced by the parties in support of plaintiff’s contention that the bond filed by Aetna was common law in form on the one hand, and Aetna’s contention that it was given in accordance with the requirements of the cited statutes on the other.

On an analysis of the cases on which plaintiff relied as well as those on which Aetna relied, and the statutes of the respective states vis-á-vis the provisions of the Rhode Island statutes, the Superior Court justice held that, by the enactment of §37-12-2 as made applicable to municipalities by §37-13-13, as amended, the General Assembly had mandated as public policy that, for plaintiff to recover on the Labor and Material Payment Bond given by Aetna, it was essential for plaintiff to have complied with the statutory provisions regarding notice.

Subsequently, both parties again moved for summary judgment, plaintiff stipulating that it had not complied with the statutory notice provisions. These motions were considered by the same justice and, the record now establishing no issue of fact to be litigated, said justice entered an order denying plaintiff’s motion and granting that of Aetna. Thereupon, plaintiff seasonably appealed.

Although the decision on which the Superior Court justice based the appealed order carefully and exhaustively sets forth the reasoning on which it is based, we deem unnecessary any discussion thereof, in light of what we consider to be a dispositive development. When plaintiff’s appeal was considered by this court, it was discovered that the contract [579]*579between the City of Cranston, as owner, and Lincoln & Lane Co., as principal contractor, had never been made part of the record. Since the bond on which the action is predicated expressly incorporates, by reference, the terms and conditions of said contract, we concluded that the ends of justice would best be served by refraining from a consideration of the question raised until the record had been supplemented by the contract in question.

Clearly, if the contract expressly called for the giving of a bond conformable to the provisions of the applicable statutes, a decision of this court, based on the law as interpreted by the Superior Court justice, might well be tantamount to an advisory opinion, which, moreover, might conceivably be inapposite to the circumstances of the instant case. We therefore entered an order calling on the parties to supplement the record by the inclusion of the contract in question. See Worthington Air Conditioning Co. v. Lincoln & Lane Co., 106 R. I. 67, 255 A.2d 723.3

After our order in the aforecited case had been filed, the absent documents were added to the record. An examination of the contract between the City of Cranston and Lincoln & Lane Co. discloses the following provision:

“The Contractor hereby agrees to abide by and comply with the applicable terms and provisions of Chapter 3580 of the Public Laws of 1955. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the following sections of said Chapter 3580 are hereby inserted in this Contract in accordance with the provisions of Section 7 of said Chapter 3580.”

Said P. L. 1955, chapter 3580 is the precursor to chapter 13 of title 37 of G. L. 1956, and section 13 of both said chapters expressly requires the contractor, to whom a public works contract is given, to furnish a labor and material bond [580]*580which shall

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
261 A.2d 853, 106 R.I. 575, 1970 R.I. LEXIS 958, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/worthington-air-conditioning-co-v-lincoln-lane-co-ri-1970.