NEW ORLEANS – U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan has vacated the judgment of a lower court and ordered a new trial for Team Contractors, the plaintiff in the case.
In her Sept. 6 ruling, Judge Morgan said, “It is ordered that the Motion to Amend Judgment filed by Plaintiff Team Contractors, L.L.C., construed as a motion for a new trial on its breach of contract claim against Defendant Waypoint NOLA, L.L.C, be and hereby is granted.“
This lawsuit evolved from a dispute about payment for a contractor that had performed some renovations on a building. The company, Team Contractors, LLC, signed a construction contract with Waypoint NOLA to work on a building Waypoint owned in New Orleans.
As Team progressed in the project, the company alleged that there were errors in the specifications for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems (MEP). In addition, Team alleged that Waypoint failed to compensate it for the cost of making additional modifications to correct the errors.
As a result, Team filed a negligence claim against Waypoint and also filed a claim against two companies, HCA and KLG, for allegedly designing and approving faulty MEP plans.
At the conclusion of the trial, the jury did not find that Waypoint breached its contract, but did assess damages in the amount of $565,797 payable to Team.
The jury charged HCA with paying 30 percent of the damages and KLG was to pay 60 percent. Waypoint was to pay only 5 percent along with a 5 percent assessment to its agent, Steve Laski.
In response, Team filed a motion to amend the judgment on April 2, disputing the jury’s findings that Waypoint did not breach its contract.
Team said this didn’t make sense considering that the jury had assigned damages to Waypoint and its agent. Team requested that the court amend the verdict and enter judgment against Waypoint.
Judge Morgan even did better than that. She ordered a new trial. She also ruled, “It is further ordered that the Court’s judgment for Defendant Waypoint on Plaintiff Team’s breach of contract claim be and hereby is vacated.
It is further ordered that Defendant Waypoint’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees be and hereby is denied as moot.”