The firm’s client was the prime contractor on a California public works project. After paying one of its subcontractors nearly 80% of the subcontractor’s total contract price for the scheduled manufacturing and delivery of fabricated steel parts, the subcontractor was taken over by a court-appointed receiver. The receiver initially refused to complete the job because of an unrelated payment dispute between the firm’s client and the subcontractor on a separate project. The firm, faced with a rapidly approaching delivery deadline that would have triggered project-breaking liquidated damages, successfully negotiated a favorable resolution with the receiver while avoiding litigation that would have prevented timely performance of the project. In analyzing our client’s rights and potential remedies, the firm persuasively argued that under the public agency’s contract and California Commercial Code, the public agency became title owner of the portions of the steel parts already paid for by our client, even though the parts were never transferred to the possession of our client or the public agency. This argument provided our client with the leverage it needed to settle with the receiver to allow it to timely deliver the steel parts and complete its performance of the project.
Counsel: Christopher R. Sillari