United States v. Haas and Haynie Corporation

577 F.2d 568 27 UCC Rep.Serv. 32 UNITED STATES of America for the Use and Benefit of UNION BUILDING MATERIALS CORP., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. HAAS AND HAYNIE CORPORATION and the Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, Defendants-Appellants. No. 75-3078. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. June 26, 1978. Warren Price, III, Honolulu, Hawaii, for plaintiff-appellee. Jerry A. Ruthruff, Honolulu, Hawaii, for defendants-appellants. Appeal From the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. Before WRIGHT and SNEED, Circuit Judges, and RENFREW, * District Judge. SNEED, Circuit Judge: 1 This case, brought pursuant to the Miller Act, 40 U.S.C. § 270b, requires us to review the district court's interpretation of a contract between the prime contractor and a subcontractor. The parties gave differing meanings to the payment clause of their contract and the issue presented to this court is the determination of whose meaning should prevail. We find that the contract was ambiguous and that the district court was not clearly erroneous in finding that the contract should be interpreted in favor of appellee, Union Building Materials Corp. Accordingly, we affirm. I. 2 The…