United Concrete Products, Inc. v. NJR Construction, LLC

Citations

• 207 Conn. App. 551

Syllabus

The plaintiff subcontractor sought to recover damages for, inter alia, the breach of a contract it had entered into with the defendant N Co., the general contractor on a bridge construction project, which required the plaintiff to provide various concrete elements, including beams that would form the deck of the bridge. N Co. had contracted with the Department of Transportation to replace a bridge on Route 74 by August 31, 2016. To complete the work, N Co. was to detour traffic for no longer than eight weeks. The contract further specified that N Co. could earn incentive payments for each day Route 74 was reopened prior to the expiration of the eight week period. N Co. triggered the eight week period when it closed the bridge on June 13, 2016, which thereby required that Route 74 be reopened by August 8, 2016. To receive the maximum incentive payment, N Co. had to reopen Route 74 on or before July 19, 2016. Pursuant to statute (§ 49-41), N Co., as principal, also obtained from the defendant A Co., as surety, a bond that secured payment for labor and materials on the project, and made N Co. and A Co. jointly and severally liable for any unpaid balance on the subcontract. The plaintiff was required under the subcontract to deliver the concrete elements to N Co. at the jobsite on or before June 7, 2016, and N Co. was to pay the plaintiff the contract price. Relying on information the plaintiff provided about its production of the beams, N Co. scheduled delivery of the beams for June 29, 2016. On June 27, 2016, the plaintiff informed N Co. that the beams would not be ready for delivery as scheduled. The beams were thereafter delivered on July 26, 2016, and the project was completed on August 31, 2016. N Co. thereafter remitted partial payment to the plaintiff under the subcontract and refused to pay the remaining balance. In its complaint, the plaintiff alleged that N Co. breached the subcontract by failing to pay the remaining balance, and sought attorney's fees and in