Case Name: NEWBERRY SQUARE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Diversified Centers, Inc., and Robert L. Miller, Appellants, v. SOUTHERN LANDMARK, INC., and Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1991-03-29
Citations: 578 So. 2d 750
Docket Number: No. 89-1363
Parties: NEWBERRY SQUARE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Diversified Centers, Inc., and Robert L. Miller, Appellants, v. SOUTHERN LANDMARK, INC., and Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., Appellees.
Judges: MINER, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 578
Pages: 750–757

Head Matter:
NEWBERRY SQUARE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Diversified Centers, Inc., and Robert L. Miller, Appellants, v. SOUTHERN LANDMARK, INC., and Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., Appellees.
No. 89-1363.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
March 29, 1991.
Rehearing Denied May 21, 1991.
Stephen B. Rakusin, of Rakusin & Ivey, Gainesville, and S. Larue Williams, of Ken-sey, Vincent & Pyle, Daytona Beach, for appellants. •
Philip N. Hammersley, of Trawick, Ham-mersley & Valentine, Sarasota, for appel-lees.

Opinion:
WENTWORTH, Senior Judge.
Appellants (hereinafter Newberry Square) seek review of an order by which appellees (hereinafter Southern Landmark) were awarded damages in a constrúction contract dispute. We find that the only point which requires reversal is the allowance of damages, in Southern Landmark's award, for two of Southern Landmark's subcontractors. We reverse the order as to this portion of the total damages, and otherwise affirm.
Southern Landmark entered into a contract to construct a shopping center for Newberry Square. The contract specified completion dates for Southern Landmark's work. When the work was not completed until after the scheduled dates Newberry Square withheld payment of the outstanding contract balance and refused to pay the full amount of Southern Landmark's final pay requisition. Southern Landmark thereafter filed an action seeking recovery which included damages related to delays which it contended were attributable to Newberry Square.
Although the contract contained a "no damage for delay" clause which purported to limit Southern Landmark's available remedy to an extension of time, such a clause does not preclude recovery for delays resulting from a party's fraud, concealment, or active interference with performance under the contract. See United States for the Use & Benefit of Seminole Sheetmetal Company v. SCI Inc., 828 F.2d 671 (11th Cir.1987); C.A. Davis Inc. v. City of Miami, 400 So.2d 536 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), pet. for review dismissed 411 So.2d 380 (Fla.1981). And despite such a clause damages may be awarded upon a "knowing delay" which is sufficiently egregious, see Southern Gulf Utilities Inc. v. Boca Ciega Sanitary District, 238 So.2d 458 (Fla. 2d DCA 1972), or upon the willful concealment of foreseeable circumstances which impact timely performance. See McIntire v. Green-Tree Communities Inc., 318 So.2d 197 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975). These exceptions to the no damages clause are generally predicated upon an implied promise and obligation not to hinder or impede performance. See Seminole Sheetmetal, supra. In the present case there was evidence that Newberry Square delayed in providing approved plans and specifications, and in providing plans and specifications which incorporated-desired changes. There was also evidence that Newberry Square delayed in executing change orders and required that construction not proceed without such orders. And it was indicated that Newberry Square repeatedly failed to make timely payments required by the contract. This course of conduct was established not only as to the Newberry Square project, but also as to two other construction projects involving these parties. And Southern Landmark's president testified that appellant Robert Miller had threatened "that he would break me before he'd pay...." There was thus adequate evidence to present a jury question as to whether New-berry Square actively impeded, or willfully and knowingly delayed, Southern Landmark's ability to timely perform under the contract, and in these circumstances the "no damage for delay" clause does not preclude Southern Landmark's recovery.
Newberry Square argues that Southern Landmark should not have been allowed to present evidence as to the delays and difficulties which occurred on the other two construction projects which were not a part of the contract in this case. However, all three projects were bid during the same month, and it was indicated that the procedures in administering the contracts, including the payment process and change orders, were identical. Evidence was presented as to various delays which Newberry Square occasioned on the other two projects, and the manner in which these difficulties impacted Southern Landmark's ability to perform under the contract in the present case. The evidence was pertinent to Newberry Square's motive, knowledge, and intent and thus admissible under section 90.404(2)(a), Florida Statutes, as it reflected the totality of the circumstances and the course of dealing between the parties as related to the dispute in the present case.
Newberry Square also argues that it should have been allowed to present the testimony of an accountant who performed a cash flow analysis of payments on the construction project in this case. But it was indicated that this analysis did not include all overhead costs, and did not consider the impact of payment delays from the other projects. And similar testimony was presented by two other witnesses who suggested that Southern Landmark had not adequately paid their subcontractors when payments were made to Southern Landmark. Given the questionable accuracy of the accountant's cash flow analysis, and the presentation of similar evidence by other witnesses, the exclusion of the accountant's cash flow testimony does not constitute reversible error.
During the presentation of Southern Landmark's evidence a witness used a chart titled "Summary of Amounts Claimed." Newberry Square asserts that the chart was also used during argument by Southern Landmark's counsel, although the record is not entirely clear in this regard. The chart contained figures reciting the various amounts claimed as damages. One of the items was modified in accordance with the concession of Southern Landmark's president that certain damages should be excluded. After the jury retired to begin deliberations it requested that the court provide a written breakdown of the damages claimed. Counsel for Newberry Square suggested that it would be "inappropriate . to provide the jury with any . information," and expressed a preference that the chart "not go in" to the jury room. The court then returned the jury to the courtroom where the chart was displayed, and advised the jury: "this is not evidence. This is a chart . used to explain to you what their damage — what claims there are. You should not use this chart as evidence of damage, just what their claims of damage are." The court explained to the jury why one of the figures on the chart had been altered, and noted that the bottom-line figure needed to be adjusted accordingly. The jury thereafter returned to the jury room and continued deliberations.
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. v. Mims, 453 So.2d 211 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), suggests that a chart used during argument "must be promptly removed from the jury's observation" when the argument is concluded. See also, Ratner v. Arrington, 111 So.2d 82 (Fla. 3d DCA 1959). But in Mims the jury was allowed to take the chart into the jury room as a court exhibit, whereas in the present case the chart was not allowed into the jury room. Rather, the jury was merely permitted to again view the chart, which had also been used by a witness during testimony, for approximately five minutes in the courtroom, after which it remained outside the jury's view. The present ease is also unlike Ballard v. W.E. Rowe, 234 S.E.2d 890 (S.C.1977), where a blackboard display of claims was taken into the jury room. In Ballard the blackboard display had been utilized in response to a jury request, and then additional claims were displayed upon a further request initiated by the trial court. The appellate court cautioned against "any intimation" by the trial court which might influence the minds of the jurors. In the present case the trial court clearly informed the jury that the chart was merely a summary of amounts claimed, and should not be considered as evidence. It has not been shown that the trial court's actions imperiled the fairness of the proceeding by prejudicing the minds of the jurors, as has been required for reversal in cases such as Pennsylvania Thresherman v. Koltunovsky, 184 So.2d 450 (Fla. 3d DCA 1966). The brief and limited use of Southern Landmark's claim chart in response to the jury's inquiry does not create the necessary inference of prejudice, and does not constitute reversible error.
Southern Landmark's damage award included amounts for two subcontractors ($39,000 for Newsom Brothers, and $141,000 for Home Electric). Such claims, when a contractor sues a project owner on behalf of a subcontractor, have been allowed when the contractor would be liable to the subcontractor, and in situations such as public contracts where the subcontractor is unable to establish an express or implied contract with the project owner. See Farrell Construction Co. v. Jefferson Parish, 693 F.Supp. 490 (E.D.La.1988); Public Health Trust of Dade County v. M.R. Harrison Construction Corp., 454 So.2d 659 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984); see also, Wexler Construction Co. v. Housing Au thority of Norwich, 149 Conn. 602, 183 A.2d 262 (1962). But the present case does not involve a public contract, and Southern Landmark is made contractually liable to the subcontractors "only to the extent" that Newberry Square is liable to Southern Landmark. The circumstances of this case thus do not accord with the standard announced in Farrell, and the other cited cases, for such claims. And as a matter of special damages peculiar to this case, the claims for the subcontractors' losses should have been specifically pleaded. See Fla.R. Civ.P. 1.120(g); of, Safeco Title Ins. Co. v. Reynolds, 452 So.2d 45 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). While Southern Landmark's complaint refers to additional expenses for material, labor, and services, and notes that litigation was filed by subcontractors, it does not make any more specific request for damages pertaining to subcontractors' losses. Special damages should be pleaded with particularity sufficient to apprise the opposing party of the nature of the special damages claimed. See Augustine v. Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co., 91 So.2d 320 (Fla.1956); see generally, Fla. Power Corp. v. Zenith Ind. Co., 377 So.2d 203 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979), cert. denied 388 So.2d 1120 (Fla.1980). Although Southern Landmark attempted in its pretrial compliance statement to increase the claim to encompass the subcontractors' losses, this document was filed less than three weeks before trial commenced and does not serve as an amendment of the pleadings. Indeed, in its pretrial statement Southern Landmark acknowledged that Newsom Brothers' and Home Electric's losses had not been included in Southern Landmark's claim. The failure to specifically plead a claim for these damages, and the absence of a basis for presentation of these claims, precludes the inclusion of such damages in Southern Landmark's award.
The order appealed is reversed insofar as the subcontractors' losses were included in Southern Landmark's damages. The order is otherwise affirmed, and the cause remanded.
MINER, J., concurs.
ERVIN, J., concurs and dissents w/written opinion.
. Appellant Diversified Centers is Newberry Square's parent corporation, and appellant Robert Miller is the sole shareholder of both entities. The parties agreed below that appellants are the same for the purpose of liability.