Court Opinion

ID: 9772098
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:07:13.344915+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:42.058037
License: Public Domain

GUITTARD, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I join in the concurring opinion of Justice Robertson. I would add that Atkinson poses an unfair dilemma for the contractor whenever he sues or counterclaims for the contract price and the owner asserts defective or incomplete performance. If, as frequently happens, the evidence of defects is disputed, the contractor must, in effect, negate his own claim of full performance by proving the cost of remedying defects which, according to his evidence, do not exist, or risk forfeiture of all compensation due him under the contract. According to the logic of Atkinson, if he proves the cost of remedying one or more defects asserted by the owner, the dilemma still exists because the court or jury may find another defect raised by the evidence, but concerning which the amount of the owner’s damage has not been shown. All an owner needs to do in order to establish a defense to the contractor’s entire claim, while retaining the benefit of the contractor’s work, is to raise a fact issue concerning any defect, no matter how slight in relation to the total of the work performed. Thus Atkinson replaces the equitable doctrine of substantial performance with a penalty, which is not only out of proportion to the breach, but is greater for a slight breach than for a more substantial breach. I find no principle of logic or justice to support such a rule. Consequently, but for the supreme court’s approval of the holding in Atkinson, I would reverse the judgment in this case.