Court Opinion

ID: 9664996
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:35:59.297417+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:12.012186
License: Public Domain

OSBORNE, Judge
(dissenting).
The majority opinion permits an excavation contractor to recover $75,000 damage because of fraud on a contract bid of $104,000. This strikes me at first blush as *240being too much fraud on too little contract. The contractor was warned by a caveat in the plans and specifications to make his own investigation of the work to be performed and not to rely upon any representations. The contractor made an investigation which is now admitted to have been inadequate. This was his own fault. After he discovered that a mistake had been made in his estimates he could have discontinued work and thus afforded the owner the opportunity of bringing in another contractor. This he did not do. In my opinion not only is the case weak upon its facts but proof of fraud is totally unconvincing. We have consistently held that the burden is on the party asserting fraud to establish it by clear and convincing proof. Rice v. Hord, 252 Ky. 469, 67 S.W.2d 715; O’Brien v. Marvin, Ky., 387 S.W.2d 282. In my opinion the proof of fraud here falls short of being either clear or convincing. It is true that it has been held that the intentional suppression of facts would give rise to an action in deceit and would destroy the “chancing contract” rule. However, in these cases the facts suppressed were facts to which the defrauded party had a right to access. Here, there was no obligation upon the part of Sanford Construction Company to furnish the material in question to S & H Contractors, Inc. Therefore, I fail to see how one can be guilty of fraud and deceit in concealing information for which there is no legal obligation to reveal. It is my opinion that the proof totally fails to show how the failure to furnish the material in the geological engineers survey deceived or influenced S & H in any manner in making up its bid in view of the fact that S & H made its own investigation of the site. It was thoroughly experienced in this type of work and was warned not to rely upon any information furnished. If every contractor who underbids a job can recoup his losses by suing the owner or prime contractor and proving that he had information at the time the bid was let, which was not made available to the contractor, then all the laws relative to contracting are in jeopardy. When the obvious weakness of the appellant’s case is considered along with the improper argument made by its counsel before the jury and the disproportionate size of the verdict as compared to the total contract price, I cannot help but feel an injustice has been done.
For the foregoing reasons, I dissent.