C. J. Wood, Inc. v. Sequoia Union High School District

During performance of its contract for grading the site for defendant district’s new high school, plaintiff brought this action for a declaration of its rights and for accrued damages. The ease was tried without a jury, and plaintiff appeals from judgment in favor of defendant.

Although the contract called for a lump-sum payment for the work, it also provided that 1 ‘ If rock is encountered which cannot be removed by power equipment and which in the opinion of the architect can only be removed by blasting, then the excavation of rock” will be paid for at the added rate of $1.25 per cubic yard. A number of provisions emphasize the finality of the architect’s determination of questions of intent and meaning of the contract, and the amounts due thereunder. After bid, but before work began, plaintiff’s president and the architect discussed the manner of determining what rock “can only be removed by blasting.” Soil engineers had recommended that the test should be by operation of a specified combination of equipment under observation of the inspector. “If the material cannot be ripped by proper handling of these two pieces of equipment in tandem then the contractor may resort to…