Opinion ID: 1057769
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Propriety of the September 28, 2007 End Date

Text: The Lenders allege that, even if the 150-day rule is not unitary, Jack Bays failed to comply with the rule because it used the wrong end date, September 28, 2007, from which it looked back. Because the circuit court agreed with 19 Commissioner Zelnick's conclusion that Jack Bays complied with the 150-day rule prescribed by Code § 43-4, the Lenders must show that the decision was plainly wrong or without evidence to support it. Amstutz, 268 Va. at 558, 604 S.E.2d at 441. Jack Bays' Site Superintendent for the New Life project, Steven Wise (Wise), supervised the work site during the September-November 2007 period. The same day that Jack Bays informed its subcontractors to cease work via mail and fax, September 28, 2007, Wise began making phone calls to all subcontractors to inform them that, per instructions from Fuechsel, Jack Bays was shut[ting active work on the project] down. The afternoon of September 28, 2007, Wise made no fewer than nine phone calls to various subcontractors, explaining to them that Jack Bays was demobilizing and that the subcontractors should not return to the work site the following week and that if they did so, it would be at their own risk. Wise also vividly recounted his interaction with subcontractors and efforts related to Jack Bays' work at the site from October 1 through November 16, 2007, none of which work involved labor performed to the job – that is, construction of the church. Fuechsel's testimony supported Wise's account. The Lenders offered no controverting evidence, instead asserting that value was added to the 20 project through Jack Bays' labor after September 28, 2007, and that this added value precluded Jack Bays from using September 28 as the end point for purposes of the 150-day rule. The Lenders' arguments to both Commissioner Zelnick and the circuit court on this issue were rejected. Although several subcontractors added value to the project after September 28, 2007, the Commissioner concluded that the same was not true for Jack Bays. This Court look[s] at the commissioner's conclusions, as approved by the circuit court, and determine[s] whether the conclusions are supported by credible evidence. Amstutz, 268 Va. at 558, 604 S.E.2d at 441. Whether Jack Bays showed it complied with the 150-day rule was a factual inquiry for Commissioner Zelnick to decide. Based on the testimony of Wise and Fuechsel, Jack Bays sufficiently demonstrated to the Commissioner and the circuit court that the last day it performed labor or furnished material to the job was September 28, 2007.