CHAMPAGNE-WEBBER, INC. AND MILES ANDERSON CONTRACTING INC., APPELLANTS,
v.
CITY OF FORT LAUDERDALE A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, APPELLEE
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Private contractors appealed a summary judgment dismissing their claims against the City of Fort Lauderdale on sovereign immunity grounds. The court reversed, holding that sovereign immunity does not bar claims for breach of implied covenants or warranties in express written contracts with state agencies, only implied contract claims.
Sovereign immunity does not protect a state agency from liability for breach of implied covenants or implied warranties in an express written contract into which the agency had statutory authority to enter. However, claims founded entirely on implied contract (such as quantum meruit) remain barred by sovereign immunity.
[1] Sovereign immunity does not protect a state agency from an action arising out of a breach of an implied covenant or condition of an express, written contract entered into…
[2] Claims for breach of express and implied warranties arising from an express written contract are not barred by sovereign immunity.
Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“where a suit is brought on an express, written contract entered into by a state agency under statutory authority, the defense of sovereign immunity does not protect the state agency from an action arising out of a breach of either an express or implied covenant or condition of that contract.”
This is the court's holding establishing that implied covenant and warranty claims are not barred by sovereign immunity when they arise from express written contracts with state agencies.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellants, as joint venturers, contracted with the City of Fort Lauderdale to construct a bridge under an express written contract. After completion,…
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OWEN, WILLIAM C. Jr., (Retired), Associate Judge.
Appellants, private contractors, appeal a summary final judgment entered in favor of appellee, the City of Fort Lauderdale. The trial court, after finding that each of appellants’ claims was founded upon a theory of implied contract rather than upon the express written contract between the parties, determined appellants’ claims were barred by the defense of sovereign immunity under Pan-Am Tobacco Corporation v. Department of Corrections, 471 So. 2d 4 (Fla.1984) and Southern Roadbuilders, Inc. v. Lee County, 495 So. 2d 189 (Fla.2d DCA 1986), rev. denied, 504 So. 2d 768 (Fla. 1987). We reverse.
Appellants, as joint venturers, entered into a written contract with appellee to construct a bridge. There is no issue concerning appellee’s statutory authority to so contract. After the construction had been completed, appellants filed a three count complaint against appellee. Count I was for breach of contract. It alleged that the plaintiffs had submitted their bid for the work in justified reliance on the city’s representation that the soil condition at the construction site was sand only, that after the work had been commenced it was discovered that the soil condition was both sand and rock, and that this condition required an alternate and more expensive method of construction; and that the city had breached the implied covenants of the contract by hindering and delaying work through the giving of inaccurate and misleading information concerning the soil condition and had breached the express covenants of the contract by increasing the quantity and scope of the work and refusing to pay for the additional cost incurred thereby. Count II was for breach of both express and implied warranties. It alleged that the city expressly had warranted that the soil condition at the construction site was sand when it was not, and impliedly had warranted that drawings and plans provided for the work accurately showed the soil condition at the site when they did not and that such breach of express and implied warranties had resulted in plaintiffs’ sustaining additional costs for the construction. Count III was an action for quantum meruit.
Count III was, without question, an action on an implied contract (and thus barred under the authorities above cited). We conclude, however, that the trial court erred in its determination that Counts I and II were founded on theories of implied contract and therefore barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. To the contrary, both Count I and Count II were claims arising out of the express written contract between the parties, albeit those claims included allegations of breach of implied covenants and breach of implied warranties.
The problem arises, we suspect, from certain language appearing in the opinion of Pan-Am Tobacco wherein the court stated as its holding:
... that where the state has entered into a contract fairly authorized by the powers granted by general law, the defense of sovereign immunity will not protect the state from action arising from the state’s breach of that contract.
471 So. 2d at 5, but then restricted its scope by emphasizing:
... our holding here is applicable only to suits on express, written contracts into which the state agency has statutory authority to enter. 471 So. 2d at 6. It seems likely that the trial court (as we think the Second District of Appeal did in the Southern Roadbuild-ers case) construed this limiting language in the Pan-Am Tobacco case to mean that no contractual cause of action may be maintained against a state agency unless it is one for breach of an express covenant or provision of an express written contract. We feel that this is a narrower construction of that limiting language than was intended by the Supreme Court.1
The reasoning expressed by the Supreme Court in the Pan-Am Tobacco case was that the legislature, in authorizing a state agency to enter into a contract, clearly intended that such contracts be valid and binding on both parties and, thus, mutually enforceable against both. 471 So. 2d at 5. While the Court emphasized that its holding was restricted to suits on express written contracts into which the state agency had statutory authority to enter, there is no indication that the Court intended by its decision to otherwise change established principles of contract law.
Virtually every contract contains implied covenants and conditions. For example, every contract includes an implied covenant that the parties will perform in good faith. In construction contract law an owner has (a) an implied obligation not to do anything to hinder or obstruct performance by the other person, Gulf American Land Corporation v. Wain, 166 So. 2d 763, 764 (Fla. 3d DCA 1964), (b) an implied obligation not to knowingly delay unreasonably the performance of duties assumed under the contract, Southern Gulf Utilities Inc. v. Boca Ciega Sanitary District, 238 So. 2d 458, 459 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970), cert, denied, 240 So. 2d 813 (Fla.1970), and (c) an implied obligation to furnish information which would not mislead prospective bidders, Jacksonville Port Authority v. Parkhill-Goodloe Co. Inc., 362 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978).
Even the contract between the parties in this case required that the contractor perform all work "... expressly or impliedly required to be furnished and done by the contractor under the contract....” It seems neither logical nor within the principles of fairness enunciated in the Pan-Am Tobacco case to construe the restrictive language of that case to mean that the defense of sovereign immunity is waived only for the state’s breach of an express covenant or condition of an express, written contract, but that the defense is not waived for the state’s breach of an implied covenant or condition of such contract, while the other contracting party remains liable for a breach of both the express and the implied covenants and conditions.
We hold that where a suit is brought on an express, written contract entered into by a state agency under statutory authority, the defense of sovereign immunity does not protect the state agency from an action arising out of a breach of either an express or implied covenant or condition of that contract.2
In entering the summary final judgment, the trial court not only found that appellants’ claims were barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity, but also made certain determinations relative to the merits of the claims. We note that the record discloses genuine issues of material fact on these issues, thus rendering them inappropriate for disposition by summary judgment.
The summary final judgment is reversed and this cause remanded for further proceedings consistent herewith.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
HERSEY, C.J., and DOWNEY, J., concur. . The Third District Court of Appeal expressed a somewhat similar view in Dade County v. American Re-Insurance, Co., 467 So. 2d 414, 418 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1985), a contract action against Dade County, wherein the court held that this limiting language would not preclude a claim for interest, even though the contract had no express provision concerning it, where interest on a liquidated debt is implied by law.
. This holding is in conflict with the Southern Roadbuilders case but not, we believe, in conflict with the Pan Am Tobacco Corporation case.
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Cnty. OF Brevard v. Miorelli Eng'g, Inc., 703 So. 2d 1049 (Fla. 1997)…immunity barred a contractor’s claim for payment for additional work where that work was not included in the original contract or any subsequent written instrument. Southern Roadbuilders. Later, in Champagne-Webber, Inc. v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 519 So. 2d 696 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988), the case heavily relied upon by the court below, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reasoned that Panr-Am did not preclude a contractor from recovering additional expenses based on a claim of breach of implied covenants or cond…
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Speedway Superamerica, LLC v. Tropic Enters., Inc., 966 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007)…2000); see also County of Brevard v. Miorelli Eng’g, Inc., 703 So. 2d 1049, 1050 (Fla.1997) (“ ‘[E]very contract includes an implied covenant that the parties will perform in good faith.’ ” (quoting Champagne-Webber, Inc. v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 519 So. 2d 696, 697 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988))); Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 205 (1981) (“Every contract imposes upon each party a duty of good faith and fair dealing in its performance and its enforcement.”). Despite broad characterizations of the implied cove…
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The City OF Fort Lauderdale v. Israel, 178 So. 3d 444 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016)…municipalities or other state agencies implicated in these decisions. By contrast, it argues that the claims against it sound in implied contract and other equitable grounds. The City then looks to Champagne-Webber, Ine. v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 519 So. 2d 696 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988). There, private contractors sued the City of Fort Lauderdale and the trial court found that their claims were founded on theories of implied contract rather than express written contract. It determined therefore that their claims…
Previewing 3 of 22 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Pan-Am Tobacco Corp. v. Dep't OF Corr., 471 So. 2d 4 (Fla. 1984)
- S. Gulf Utils., Inc. v. Boca Ciega Sanitary Dist. & the Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs of Pinellas Cnty., 238 So. 2d 458 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970)
- S. Roadbuilders, Inc. v. LEE Cnty., 495 So. 2d 189 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986)
- Bishop v. Wometco Enters., Inc., 240 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 1970)
- Dade Cnty. v. Am. Re-Insurance Co., 467 So. 2d 414 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)
- Jacksonville Port Auth. v. Parkhill-Goodloe Co., Inc., 362 So. 2d 1009 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978)
- Gulf Am. Land Corp. v. Wain, 166 So. 2d 763 (Fla. 3d DCA 1964)