Opinion ID: 1443842
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Summary Judgment Dismissing NCI's Sixth and Seventh Causes of Action[1]

Text: Resolution of this summary judgment turns on the interpretation and application of the Differing Site Conditions clause which, at the time the contract for this project was made, was required by the Environmental Protection Agency in contracts for projects with EPA funding. 40 C.F.R. § 33.1030 (1986). NCI filed a motion seeking to establish that oral communications with Hill constituted actual notice sufficient to meet the notice requirements in the Differing Site Condition contract clause. Paragraph 4(a) of the contract requires that the notice be in writing. Though there is no claim that NCI provided timely written notice of any differing site condition, case law establishes that under certain circumstances timely actual notice, even in the absence of written notice, will be considered sufficient notice under the clause. See, e.g., Brechan Enter. v. United States, 12 Cl. Ct. 545 (1987) ([N]otice does not need to be in any specific format; it need only show the existence of the condition.). Therefore, the appeal of this summary judgment requires an interpretation of what qualifies as the minimum necessary notice under the clause, and, secondly, of whether the acts alleged here satisfy that minimum. In Brinderson Corp. v. Hampton Rds. San. Dist., 825 F.2d 41 (4th Cir.1987), a contractor had problems with wet soil conditions which forced it to incur increased costs. The court stated that [g]enerally, when the owner has actual or constructive notice of the conditions underlying the claim and an opportunity to investigate, that is sufficient. Id. at 44. Similarly, NCI's notice to the City, though not in writing, will be considered sufficient if it was clear and it alerted or should have alerted the City to the fact that NCI believed it had encountered differing site conditions. NCI claims that Green, and therefore Hill, was put on notice when Green met with NCI representatives to talk about problems with the composition of the soil and then actually took a soil sample and noted that its composition differed from what the data summary predicted. If Green knew upon looking at the soil that the site condition was materially different from what was expected, he was on notice even if the contractor continued to labor ignorantly, having no idea why work was progressing so slowly. [2] NCI's position is that after concerns about sand lenses were expressed to Richie, Green was specially brought in to test the soil. When he looked at the pits he saw clayey silt,  not clay, at the elevation of the lagoon prisms ( i.e., between elevations forty-seven and twenty-nine). NCI asserts that the clayey silt constituted a differing site condition, [3] and that Green knew that it was. But NCI's assertions and suppositions are not supported by reasonable inferences from the evidence. When Green came to inspect the soil  even if he came in especially because of NCI's concerns  the reason for his visit was possible sand lenses in the floor of the lagoon, not the consistency of the material to be excavated. The notes he took were simply a recording of what he saw at various levels, not the focus of his investigation. Because of the concerns about sand lenses, Green came to the site and took a soil sample in the presence of representatives of NCI and Hill. The sample came from the twenty-seven foot elevation, which was two feet below the level anticipated for the lagoon floors. This again indicates that the concerns Richie and Green were addressing related to the eventual integrity of the lagoon floor, not to the difficulty of excavation. Green's log notes describing the composition of the soil on the way down the test pits were offhand assessments, not the focus of his attention. NCI asserts that Mattoon's characterization of the material within the lagoon prism as blue clay, and the level the sample was taken, are both evidence that Green knew about the differing site condition and attempted to mislead NCI into believing there was none. NCI speculates that Green, knowing that the presence of clayey silt was a differing site condition, lied to Mattoon to cover up the problem, telling him that they were looking at blue clay. But there is no evidence in the record that Green told Mattoon that the soil was blue clay, except for Mattoon's note indicating that they had found blue clay. Mattoon's note nowhere states that he received this classification from Green. NCI also suggests that Green used his superior knowledge to select a single sample that aided in the deception. Because the sample was taken from test pit 1, and not pit 2, and because it was taken from below the lagoon floor, NCI concludes that Green was taking the sample from a place he knew would be clay. But NCI's June-July 1987 concern regarding the soil composition, which Mattoon had expressed to Richie, was the integrity of the pond floors, not the difficulty of excavation. None of NCI's representatives found it remarkable at the time that Green took a sample from below the bottom of the lagoon. The only reasonable conclusion is that, since seepage in the lagoon floor was the concern, Green took a sample from the material which would eventually form the floor of the lagoon in order to test its characteristics. NCI's interpretation of the evidence is untenable. It relies entirely on conjecture to convert concerns expressed about the integrity of the pond floors into notice of unexpected conditions within the pond prisms. There is no reasonable interpretation of the facts which supports NCI's contention that it gave clear non-written notice of a differing site condition. [4] The superior court correctly dismissed NCI's sixth and seventh causes of action. [5]