In cases such as this, it may be that the parties to an agreement intended that the contractor bear the risk of losses due to delays, and the contractor's bid reflects the assumption of that risk. It may be that a contractee was without fault in causing a delay. It may be that a contractor should seek redress from a third party rather than a contractee. Or it may be that delays so far exceed what was contemplated by parties to a contract that additional recovery is warranted either under the contract or in quantum meruit. Finally, it may be that a contractee breached or actively interfered with a contractor's performance of an agreement.
Case law discusses all of the above circumstances.
But these issues are not ripe for our review. We reverse the trial court's summary judgment order. We also note that Renton did not move for partial summary judgment on the basis of what any particular utility company may or may not have done. Nonetheless, Renton asks this court to affirm the trial court's summary judgment order with respect to all utilities except for Puget. Because Renton requested general relief from any claims for damages related to the actions of utility companies, we think it would be inappropriate to parse the trial court's broad summary judgment order with such specificity.