Court Opinion

ID: 9718647
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:28:48.102276+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:01.119119
License: Public Domain

PORTER, Justice
(concurring in part, dissenting in part).
Section 5.14 afforded plaintiff a method whereby it could assert a claim under the contract for the extra work done and extra material furnished. Refusal of the engineer to furnish a written change order (sec. 1.9), a written extra work order (sec. 1.27), a written supplemental agreement (sec. 1.70) or a written work order (sec. 1.79) did not prevent plaintiff from timely submitting a written claim for extra work and material under section 5.14. The claim procedure which the contractor may utilize under 5.14 is clearly designed to meet a situation, as here, where the engineer refuses or neglects to order or agree in writing to extra work by the contractor. I see no evidence or contention here that defendants or the engineer prevented plaintiff from filing a timely 5.14 claim or induced plaintiff not to do so.
There is, accordingly, no basis here for applying the doctrine of estoppel or waiver against defendants. Whether either doctrine can ever apply against the state under a highway construction contract we need not decide today. It is enough that the stipulated facts before us reveal that plaintiff unilaterally elected not to comply with the 5.14 contract claim provision specifically designed for a contractor claim of this nature. There is therefore no factual basis to apply estoppel or waiver against the defendants in the case at bar, and I would therefore reverse that portion of the judgment from which defendants appeal.