Blair Excavators, Inc. v. Paschen Contractors, Inc.

This appeal follows a trial to the court on public project bond claims concerning unpaid construction bills, after a subcontractor’s 90-day preliminary bond notice and a 20-day preliminary stop notice under Civil Code sections 3091 and 3098. In the published portion of this opinion, we will hold, in affirming the judgment, that the statutory requirement of “substantial accuracy” in the statement of the amount claimed in a bond notice under section 3091 was designed to avoid prejudice to the party claimed against and that, in the absence of any such prejudice, a plaintiff may recover an amount greater than that stated in the initial section 3091 notice.

I. Facts and Procedural History

For present purposes, the facts may be briefly summarized. Blair Excavators, Inc. (Blair), respondent herein, performed certain excavating work on a public wastewater treatment project in Marin County; in connection with the project, appellant general contractor executed a bond in the amount of more than $43 million. Blair performed its work as a subcontractor to Ferrante Construction Company, which in turn was a subcontractor to and in privity of contract with appellant general contractor.…