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Summary 2010 WY 92

Summary of Decision issued June 29, 2010

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Case Name: Western Municipal Construction of Wyo., Inc. v. Better Living, LLC

Citation: 2010 WY 92

Docket Number: S-09-0116

Appeal from the District Court of Sheridan County, the Honorable John G. Fenn, Judge.

Representing Western Municipal Construction: Raymond W. Martin and Kristin M. Nuss of Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Representing Better Living, LLC.: Anthony Todd Wendtland of Wendtland & Wendtland, Sheridan, Wyoming.

Facts/Discussion: Western Municipal Construction (Western) challenged the district court?s order granting summary judgment in favor of Better Living, LLC.
The appeal arose out of the dismissal of a complaint for declaratory judgment which sought to declare the parties? rights under a settlement agreement resulting from a mediated dispute concerning a construction contract. A dispute arose concerning two items: the amount of liquidated damages, for which Better Living had assessed a $345,000 deduction against the $1.4M contract price and the amount due under a ?Force Account? bid item.
The Court concluded that the language of the settlement agreement was unambiguous and the language of the underlying ?Standard Conditions of the Construction Contract? need not, and should not be consulted in construing the language of the settlement agreement. The Court will not look behind a settlement agreement to see who would have prevailed in a dispute out of which the settlement agreement arose. If the settlement agreement itself meets contractual requirements, it will be enforced.

Conclusion: The Court concluded that the district court erred in failing to order Better Living to comply with the settlement agreement. The Court was not persuaded by Better Livings? contentions that by cooperating in executing the closeout documents Western thereby waived its entitlement to the $250,000 settlement amount or that it thereby ratified Better Livings? efforts to unilaterally modify the settlement agreement. Western was entitled to a payment in the amount of $250,000. If there are other disputes Better Living saw in this case, it was the one burdened with filing a claim, which it did not do. The district court?s order was reversed and the matter remanded. Western was also entitled to the fees and costs due it under W.R.A.P. 10.04.

Reversed and remanded.

J. Hill delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/2u5xt73 .

[SPECIAL NOTE: This opinion uses the "Universal Citation." It was given an "official" citation when it was issued. You should use this citation whenever you cite the opinion, with a P.3d parallel citation. Please note when you look at the opinion that all of the paragraphs are numbered. When you pinpoint cite to a quote, you should cite to this paragraph number rather than to any page number. If you need assistance using the Universal Citation format, please contact the Wyoming State Law Library.]

Full post as published by Law Library Letter on July 02, 2010 (boomark / email).