Opinion ID: 2514285
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Failure to Instruct on the Contract Provisions

Text: [ś 96] The City contends, without citation to any authority, that the district court erred in failing to instruct the jury that the contract claims provisions were mandatory. The City offered, and the district court rejected, the following instructions: INSTRUCTION NO. 22(a) CONTRACT TERMSâ CONDITIONS PRECEDENT Wyoming law provides that parties can contractually require that certain conditions (conditions precedent) be met prior to a party being able to bring a claim, i.e., to sue the other party. The Contract between Hladky Construction, Inc. and the City of Gillette provides for certain conditions that have to be met before a Claim can be made by Hladky Construction, Inc. Those condition precedents are found at Articles 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.3.5, 4.3.7.1 and Article 13.1. If you find that Hladky Construction, Inc. failed to abide by the Contract's mandatory procedures to establish a Claim, then Hladky Construction, Inc.'s claims against the City of Gillette are barred. INSTRUCTION NO. 23(a) WRITTEN NOTICE OF CONTRACT CLAIMS Hladky Construction, Inc., by and through this lawsuit, is making a claim for additional monies under the Contract between it and the City of Gillette. That Contract provides that a Claim arising out of or relating to the Contract, must be initiated by written notice. Hladky Construction, Inc. has the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence that, it complied with all contractual requirements regarding procedures for making Claims. If you find that Hladky Construction, Inc. failed to comply with the requirement in Article 4.3.1 that written notice be provided not only to the Architect, but also the City of Gillette's Owner's Representative, Dan Roberts, then you must find that its Claims are barred. INSTRUCTION NO. 39 PROCEDURE FOR SERVING WRITTEN NOTICE OF CLAIM Article 13.1 of the General Conditions of the Contract for Construction, (AIA document A201-1997) provides that notice is deemed duly served if delivered in person or if sent by registered or certified mail. If you find that Hladky Construction, Inc. failed to serve its written notice of claim letters in the above manner, then you must find that its Claims are barred. [ś 97] As we have said, the district court is not obligated to give an instruction offered by a party as long as the jury is adequately instructed on the law as it pertains to the case. Parrish, ś 7, 130 P.3d at 505. A district court's ruling on an instruction will not constitute reversible error absent a showing of prejudice, and prejudice will not be said to result unless it is demonstrated that the instruction confused or misled the jury with respect to the proper principles of law. Id. The burden is on the appellant to show prejudicial error. [ś 98] The City cites to no authority on the issue of whether a court is required to instruct the jury that contract provisions are mandatory. The cases the City cited to the district court as authority for its proposed instructions do not address the question. Under the facts of this case, we conclude the district court was not required to instruct the jury concerning the individual contract claims provisions. As the City states in its appellate brief, [m]uch of the five-week trial was devoted to the notice issue. The contract claims provisions were presented to the jury, testimony was presented concerning those provisions and the parties had a full opportunity to argue the impact of those provisions. The contract provisions were sufficiently presented to the jury for consideration without specific instructions from the court concerning them.