Court Opinion

ID: 9848349
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:17:44.693681+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:15.314703
License: Public Domain

Justice Webb
dissenting.
I dissent from the majority. I agree with Judge Arnold’s dissenting opinion in the Court of Appeals. I believe Paragraphs 11.3.6 and 11.4 clearly and unambiguously provide that the owner waives all rights against the architect for damages covered by property insurance during construction. Paragraph 11.5 does not say it negates this waiver and I do not believe we should read it so that it may do so. I believe a contract should be read so that if possible all its provisions have meaning.
*84“A contract must be construed as a whole, and the intention of the parties is to be collected from the entire instrument and not from detached portions, it being necessary to consider all of its parts in order to determine the meaning of any particular part as well as of the whole. Individual clauses in an agreement and particular words must be considered in connection with the rest of the agreement, and all parts of the writing, and every word in it, will, if possible, be given effect. The foregoing rules are applicable in the interpretation of building and construction contracts.” 17 C.J.S., Contracts, § 297.
Robbins v. Trading Post, 253 N.C. 474, 477, 117 S.E. 2d 438, 440-41 (1960). A contract must be construed as a whole, considering each clause and word with reference to other provisions and giving effect to each if possible by any reasonable construction. Marcoin, Inc. v. McDaniel, 70 N.C. App. 498, 320 S.E. 2d 892 (1984). See generally 4 S. Williston, A Treatise on the Law of Contracts, § 618(3) (3d ed. 1961).
Paragraph 11.5 provides the architect shall maintain liability insurance for errors and omissions to protect the owner “from the direct and consequential results of such errors and omissions.” This insurance can protect the owner in ways that are not covered by Paragraphs 11.3.6 and 11.4. One example is protection from liability to third parties. I believe we should interpret Paragraph 11.5 to say it requires insurance by the architect to protect the owner for risks not covered by Paragraphs 11.3.6 and 11.4. In that way we can give effect to all provisions of the contract.
When a provision of a contract deals specifically with a subject, I do not believe we should say that provision may be can-celled by a second provision of the contract when the second provision is not necessarily contrary to the first provision. Construing the contract according to defendants’ contentions gives effect to all provisions of the agreement, including the waiver provisions and, therefore, comports with these well established canons of construction. Construing it according to plaintiffs’ contentions does not, since this construction nullifies the waiver provisions. Since the contract may be construed so as to give effect to all provisions, it must be so construed if the Court is to follow *85its precedents. In such a case there is no ambiguity in the contract. Applying appropriate canons of construction resolves whatever doubt there may be as to the contract’s meaning.
Chief Justice EXUM joins in this dissenting opinion.