Court Opinion

ID: 9654643
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 18:45:59.343665+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:12.162195
License: Public Domain

LOWENSTEIN, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the opinion of Judge Nugent. Although it is a close call on whether the city made a positive representation about subsurface water, it is unfair for the contractor to bear such a financial burden after the water was discovered. Both parties here are innocent and free of any wrong-doing or failure to make a practical investigation. To here hold the contractor responsible for the unanticipated expense results in a windfall to the public entity and a crushing burden to the contractor. To allow the contractor to recoup for the necessary extra work makes him whole and the city responsible for the work it got. The result here is in keeping with the spirit of Ideker, Incorporated v. Missouri State Highway Commission, 654 S.W.2d 617, 621 (Mo.App.1983), which is to require the governmental entity to bear the added cost rather than the contractor where greater expense is encountered than was calculated in the bid.