BATON ROUGE— Polk Construction Corporation and its surety will not have to pay damages to Industrial Mechanical Contractors Inc. (IMC) for delays in the building of Henry Mayfield Elementary School, an appeals court ruled.
In the Aug. 20 ruling, the First Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a lower court's decision to deny damages to IMC, because the subcontractor did not timely file its request.
IMC argued the contract language regarding delay damages only addressed the "contractor" and not the "subcontractor."
The appeals court disagreed.
"Even if the trial court erroneously applied section 14 as IMC claims, our review of the contract documents shows that the trial court correctly determined that IMC failed to timely request delay damages," Judge Richard Swartz Jr. wrote in the opinion.
In addition, Swartz found the surety, Hartford Casualty Insurance Company, did not not owe IMC any payment under its bond.
The appeals court also ruled Hartford and Polk would not be awarded attorney fees.
The initial litigation arose from a 2009 contract for construction at Henry Mayfield Elementary School approved by the St. Tammany Parish School Board.
IMC entered into a $2.3 million subcontract to provide plumbing, heating and air conditioning work.
The school was finished in 2012, which was much later than expected and prompted IMC to file suit.
State of Louisiana Court of Appeal First Circuit 2017 CA 1254