Ground Service Technology v. Triton Structural Concrete CA4/1 (2016) · DecisionDepot
Ground Service Technology v. Triton Structural Concrete CA4/1
California Court of Appeal Jun 16, 2016 No. D067349Unpublished
Filed 6/16/16 Ground Service Technology v. Triton Structural Concrete CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION ONE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
GROUND SERVICE TECHNOLOGY, INC., D067349
Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 37-2013-00046810- v. CU-BC-CTL)
TRITON STRUCTURAL CONCRETE, INC., et. al.,
Defendants and Appellants.
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Joel R.
Wohlfeil, Judge. Reversed.
Finch, Thornton & Baird and Louis J. Blum for Defendants and Appellants.
Teeple Hall, Grant G. Teeple and Frederick M. Reich for Plaintiff and
Respondent.
Defendants Triton Structural Concrete, Inc. (Triton) and Safeco Insurance
Company of America (Safeco, together defendants) appeal from a judgment following a
bench trial on plaintiff, Ground Service Technology, Inc.'s (GST), complaint.
Defendants contend the judgment must be reversed because GST was not properly
licensed. They also contend Triton did not breach the contract when it withheld payment
to GST because (1) the Labor Code and applicable regulations required Triton to
withhold all payment, and (2) there is no evidence showing Triton was paid for GST's
work. We conclude defendants forfeited their first argument by failing to object at trial to
3 "[A] progress payment is a payment other than a down payment that is to be made before the project is completed." (See Murray's Iron Works, Inc. v. Boyce (2008) 158 Cal.App.4th 1279, 1299 & fn. 13 [addressing progress payments in private sector contracts].) Retention payments are "payments relating to work already done but which are not presently paid, which instead are withheld until completion of 100 percent of the [contractor's] work." (Western Landscape Construction v. Bank of America (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 57, 59.)
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A split of authority exists on whether the existence of a good faith dispute should be
based on an objective or a subjective standard. (Alpha Mechanical, Heating & Air
Conditioning, Inc. v. Travelers Cas. & Sur. Co. of America (2005) 133 Cal.App.4th 1319,
1339 [subjective]; FEI Enterprises, Inc. v. Kee Man Yoon (2011) 194 Cal.App.4th 790,
805-806 [objective].)
B. Analysis
The trial court concluded that Triton violated section 7108.5 of the prompt
payment statutes by failing to timely remit to GST its portion of progress payments
received from the District. The trial court found that Triton unreasonably withheld
payments from GST due under the subcontract. As of the time of trial, the court found
that Triton had unreasonably withheld a minimum of $7,426.15.
Defendants argue Triton cannot be held liable for breach of contract or prompt
payment penalties because prevailing wage law statutes and regulations required Triton
to withhold payment from GST. Defendants also contend GST failed to prove the
amount and timing of payments that the District made to Triton and thus failed to
establish critical elements of GST's prompt payment and breach of contract claims. The
issue presented for review is whether the trial court properly applied the statutes and
regulations to the undisputed facts. Accordingly, our review is de novo. (Ghirardo v.
Antonioli (1994) 8 Cal.4th 791, 799.)
Under the subcontract, GST agreed it would comply with all applicable laws and
regulations. GST also agreed that Triton could reduce or reject a payment application if
the District rejected any part of a payment application or based on GST's failure to
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comply with the terms and conditions of the subcontract. The evidence presented at trial
established that between 2011 and 2014, the District's labor compliance program issued a
series of audits for GST's work on the project. The audits indicated problems with GST's
payroll records and noted that the issues needed to be addressed within 10 days,
consistent with subdivision (g) of Labor Code section 1776.
In April 2012, Triton placed a hold on GST's account because it felt that GST had
been nonresponsive to audit inquiries. In about June 2012, GST completed its work on
the project. On April 26, 2013, the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) sent a
document to the District requesting approval of forfeiture for contract payments based on
Triton's inability to resolve audit issues relating to GST. Triton considered this to be an
"escalation" as the matter was moving from the District to the DIR.
On April 29, 2013, GST filed its complaint alleging it was due $80,370.93 on six
invoices, one dated in 2011, four dated in 2012 and one dated in 2013. At this time,
however, GST had not yet resolved its labor code compliance issues. Notably, on May 3,
2013, the District issued a labor investigation notice of GST based on a complaint it had
received. Additionally, a May 24, 2013 document entitled "notice of withholding of
contract payments" stated that the District's labor compliance program investigation of
wages paid to workers determined that Triton had committed Labor Code violations
based on the GST audits, including payroll discrepancies and GST's failure to revise and
re-submit adequate time records. The total amount of wages and penalties amounted to
$13,834.07. At this time, Triton became more concerned about the possibility it might be
liable for liquidated damages.
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The final audit of GST's performance, dated February 10, 2014, revealed
underpayment and penalties in the total amount of $5,093.23. GST accepted the liability
because it would have cost the company more to put together the additional
documentation required by the District. On May 2, 2014, GST received final payment
from Triton in the amount of $73,012.90.
Labor Code section 1729 allowed Triton, the general contractor, to withhold funds
from GST sufficient to cover penalties withheld by the awarding body, the District, based
on GST's failure to comply with the prevailing wage laws. Where, as here, payroll
records were inadequate, the District was required to withhold "those payments due or
estimated to be due to the contractor or subcontractor whose payroll records are
delinquent or inadequate, plus any additional amount that the labor compliance program
has reasonable cause to believe may be needed to cover a back wage and penalty
assessment against the contractor or subcontractor whose payroll records are delinquent
or inadequate." (Regulation 16435(e).) The term "withhold" is defined as "to cease
payments by the Awarding Body . . . to the general contractor." (Regulation 16435(a).)
Regulation 16435 further provides that where the awarding body (the District) withholds
payments due the contractor (Triton), the "contractor shall be required in turn to cease all
payments to a subcontractor whose payroll records are delinquent or inadequate until the
Labor Compliance Program provides notice that the subcontractor has cured the
delinquency or deficiency." (Regulation 16435(e).)
Additionally, subject to prior approval of the labor commissioner, contract
payments may be withheld when an investigation establishes a prevailing wage law
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underpayment. (Regulation 16435.5(d).) "Where the violation is by a subcontractor, the
general contractor shall be notified of the nature of the violation and reference made to its
rights under Labor Code Section 1729." (Regulation 16435.5(b).) Triton received such a
notice on May 24, 2013, stating that Triton had committed Labor Code violations based
on the GST audits and that the total amount of wages and penalties amounted to
$13,834.07.
Triton was required by statute to stop all payments to GST until the labor
compliance program provided notice that GST had cured the delinquencies or
deficiencies in its payroll records. (Regulation 16435(e).) During closing argument,
Triton asserted it had an excuse for not paying GST as it never received notice from the
District that GST had cured the delinquencies or deficiencies in its payroll records. GST
has not cited, and we have not found, any evidence in the record showing Triton received
notice from the District that GST had cured the delinquencies or deficiencies in its
payroll records. Rather, Triton's CFO testified that he was unaware of any notice from
the District stating that GST had cured the payroll delinquencies or deficiencies.
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Assuming evidence existed showing GST had cured all delinquencies or
deficiencies in its payroll records, GST was entitled to its share of the progress or
retention payment received by Triton within seven days from the time Triton received a
progress or retention payment from the District. (§ 7108.5, subd. (a); Pub. Contract
Code, § 7107, subd. (d).) As Triton correctly points out, the amount and timing of
Triton's payments from the District were elements of GST's prompt payment claims.
(Tesco, supra, 124 Cal.App.4th at pp. 803-804 [prompt payment penalties are triggered
upon the general contractor actually receiving payment].) GST presented no evidence
showing what portion of the payments Triton received from the District was for work
performed by GST, nor did GST indicate it asked the District to provide this information.
As of the time of trial, Triton had still not received final payment from the District, did
not know what portion of the withheld funds pertained to GST audit issues, but knew that
GST was the only subcontractor being audited. Specifically, Triton's CFO testified that
the final audit number as to GST was $5,093, and that the District was still withholding
$76,500 from Triton. This testimony suggests that at least a portion, if not all, of the
funds that the District withheld from Triton was for GST's work.
Finally, even assuming the trial court reasonably inferred from the evidence that
Triton failed to pay GST within seven days of Triton receiving payment from the District,
the subcontract provided Triton with an additional excuse for failing to pay GST.
Namely, GST violated that portion of the subcontract requiring that it comply with all
applicable laws and regulations. The subcontract expressly allowed Triton to reduce or
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reject a payment application if the District rejected any part of a payment application or
based on GST's failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the subcontract. The
subcontract language amounts to a waiver of the prompt payment requirements of section
7108.5. (Martin Bros. Const., Inc. v. Thompson Pacific Const., Inc. (2009) 179
Cal.App.4th 1401, 1417 [parties can contractually agree to alter the timing of progress
payments].) It was undisputed that the District found numerous problems with GST's
payroll records based on noncompliance with the prevailing wage laws. As of the time of
trial, GST was the only subcontractor on the project under audit and the District was still
withholding $76,500 from Triton.
The trial court erred in finding that Triton breached the subcontract by withholding
payment from GST. GST's failure to comply with prevailing wage laws allowed Triton
to withhold payment from GST, and GST failed to present sufficient evidence triggering
violation of the prompt payment laws. More fundamentally, the subcontract allowed
Triton to reject GST's payment applications based on GST's failure to comply with the
prevailing wage law statutes and regulations. Accordingly, the trial court erred in
awarding GST penalties under the prompt payment statutes. The judgment against
defendants is reversed. (County of Los Angeles v. Wilshire Ins. Co. (1975) 44 Cal.App.3d
952, 956 [a surety's liability is co-extensive with liability of its principal].)
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DISPOSITION
The judgment is reversed. Defendants are entitled to their costs on appeal.
PRAGER, J.*
WE CONCUR:
McCONNELL, P. J.
O'ROURKE, J.
* Judge of the San Diego Superior Court, assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.
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AI Brief
AI-generated · verify before citing
Holding. The trial court erred in finding that the general contractor breached its contract or violated prompt payment statutes by withholding funds from a subcontractor, as the subcontractor's failure to comply with prevailing wage laws authorized the withholding under both statute and the parties' subcontract.
Issues
Did the trial court err in finding the general contractor breached the contract and violated prompt payment statutes by withholding funds?
Did the subcontractor fail to provide sufficient evidence to establish the elements of its prompt payment and breach of contract claims?
Did the parties' subcontract allow the general contractor to withhold payment based on the subcontractor's failure to comply with prevailing wage laws?
Disposition. reversed
Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion
“The trial court erred in finding that Triton breached the subcontract by withholding payment from GST.”
“GST's failure to comply with prevailing wage laws allowed Triton to withhold payment from GST, and GST failed to present sufficient evidence triggering violation of the prompt payment laws.”