Engineer's Insufficient Plans Caused Contractor's Default

Monday, April 11, 2011 11:00 am

Negligent Misrepresentation

CCE, Inc. v. PBS&J Construction Services, Inc., 2011 Tex. App. Lexis 809 (Jan. 28, 2011)

A trial court rendered summary judgment against a contractor on its negligent-misrepresentation claim against the project engineer on a Nacogdoches County, Texas road project.

However, the contractor managed to change that outcome on appeal, where it demonstrated that there was indeed evidence the engineer had supplied false information.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) hired PBS&J Construction Services, Inc.; Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan, Inc.; and Yu-Chen Su, P.E. (collectively, PBS&J) to draft engineering plans and specifications for the new road, including a state-required "Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan" (SW3P) that would assure the project complied with the Clean Water Act. As the contractor on the project, CCE, Inc. (CCE), was required to comply with the SW3P, and it alleged it did so. Nevertheless, during CCE's performance, silt discharged from the project site and accumulated on nearby private property. Unsatisfied with CCE's attempts to fix the problem, TxDOT terminated the contractor for default and ordered CCE's surety to arrange for completion of the project. CCE hired another contractor to complete the project, at its own expense, and then sought recovery.

Professional 'opinions' can be false

CCE blamed PBS&J for its injuries. The contractor claim [...]