Raymond v. Fresno City Unified School District

MUSSELL, J.

Plaintiff, a general building contractor, alleges in this action for declaratory relief that he was the lowest responsible bidder for the construction of a school building in Fresno; that he was entitled to the award of the contract for such construction; that contrary to law, the defendant board of education neglected and refused to award the contract to him and awarded it to the next lowest bidder without rejecting all bids and advertising for new bids; that the defendant school district, board of education and members thereof were without jurisdiction to award the contract to the next lowest bidder; that as a result of the ultra vires act

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of the defendants, plaintiff was deprived of a reasonable profit in the sum of $9,670 and that the taxpayers were compelled to pay $1,800 more than plaintiff’s bid for the construction of said building.

On May 31, 1951, all the bids submitted to the defendant board of education for the construction of said school building were opened. Pursuant to the advertisement calling for bids, the plaintiff had bid $96,700 and the defendant Ward had bid $98,500 for the contract. Plaintiff’s bid was the lowest and Ward’s the next lowest. All bids were submitted by the board of education to its building and grounds committee, consisting of all the members of the said board. Thereafter the board of education heard the findings of this committee and other evidence, found that plaintiff was not a responsible bidder within the meaning of the Education Code of the State of California, section 18051, and awarded the contract to the defendant Ward.

Several months prior to the award of the contract herein, plaintiff Raymond had constructed another school building for the defendant school district. This building was known as the Jane Addams school and there were many complaints made to the members of the board concerning plaintiff’s failure to properly perform that contract. On August 3, 1950, the architects of this building wrote to the assistant superintendent of the district calling attention to plaintiff’s failure to perform his contract with respect to broken tile, correcting work relating to kitchen equipment, painting, window screens and latches, and adjustments of door closers. In another letter to the board the architects called attention to many particulars in which plaintiff had failed and neglected to complete his contract.