litigation

ANOTHER CHANGE ORDER DISPUTE GOES BAD, LEADS TO LITIGATION
ALL TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED, INC. V ACC CONTRACTORS

In too many construction disputes, a "failure to communicate" over a change order starts all parties down the slippery road into a court room battle. That appears to be the situation in this case, which was filed in June 2001. The construction job started innocently enough, when ACC Contractors hired All Temperatures Controlled to install a heating, venting and air conditioning system at Taft High School in Canoga Park, California.

ACC Contractors originally agreed to pay All Temperatures Controlled $470,000 for that work. Along the way, the job grew. In the end, ACC Contractors paid over $700,000 to All Temperatures Controlled, which was almost twice the original price, according to the court suit. But All Temperatures Controlled said that wasn’t enough money and they wanted another $58,386. When ACC Contractors did not pay up quickly, All Temperature Controlled filed a court suit against ACC. (Case # BC252815)

A Class Action Breach of Contract & Unlawful and Unfair Business Practice lawsuit was filed in October 2000, against All Temperatures Controlled and is still pending in Los Angeles Superior Court. Jose Escobar, Mike Speck and Vincente Lopez Spriano were all sheet metal workers who were employees of All Temperatures Controlled during the last four years. This court complaint is filed on behalf of these three workers and all other All Temperatures Controlled employees who were employed on public works jobs. The workers charge that All Temperatures Controlled refused to pay them the legal, prevailing wages for their job classification.

According to the lawsuit, the workers also charged that All Temperatures Controlled failed to pay all of the wages due to the workers at the time of their termination of employment and that All Temperatures Controlled breached its contract with various contractors and customers by failing to pay the agreed on prevailing wages on public works jobs.

All Temperatures Controlled also gained an unfair and unlawful advantage over contractors that did actually pay prevailing wages, the court suit also contended.

This important case could cause All Temperatures Controlled to pay large sums in back wages to many employees. This case is still pending with a case status conference scheduled for mid-March 2002. (Case # BC239251)

All Temperatures Controlled claims it was the lowest bidder on the Mission Community Hospital project in Los Angeles County. But All Temperatures Controlled charges that Turner Construction took a kickback from another contractor to revoke its bid award to All Temperatures Controlled, gave the work to that other contractor, and then told All Temperatures Controlled to get their trailer off of the project premises.

All Temperatures Controlled claimed that this was an unfair and unlawful business practice and interference with their business advantage for Turner, Mission Hospital, and the contractor to accept "kickback money."

According to the court documents, in October 2000 All Temperatures Controlled asked for the $36,212 in set up expenses it had already incurred, in this suit against their own prospective customer and a large general contractor. (Case # LC053886)

All Temperatures Controlled originally agreed to supply almost $68,000 of equipment and labor for a heating, venilating and air conditioning system at the San Jose Elementary School in Mission Hills, near Los Angeles. All Temperatures Controlled also claimed that they agreed to supply almost $44,000 of equipment and labor to MS for the Gault Street Elementary School in Van Nuys, for a total of over $111,000 in labor and equipment.

All Temperatures Controlled says they were not paid, so in August of 2000 they filed a court suit against the school district, the bonding company and MS Construction who was the general contractor, as stated in the original lawsuit.

The school district filed an answer to the lawsuit, charging that All Temperatures Controlled failed to perform their contractual duties and promises and that All Temperatures Controlled was liable for offset and back charges under the contract’s liquidated damages provision.

MS Construction Management filed their own answer, pointing out that All Temperatures Controlled’s construction license had lapsed, which could bar them from filing a court action. All Temperatures Controlled’s complaint was dismissed just a few months later. (Case # BC231446)