Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc. v. CMC Fabricators, Inc.

In this appeal from an order denying a motion for an award of attorney fees, we must decide whether a defendant who defeats a claim for breach of contract but loses a related claim for promissory estoppel is entitled to recover attorney fees when the alleged contract provides the prevailing party in any dispute between the parties shall recover such fees. We hold such a defendant is entitled to recover the attorney fees reasonably incurred in defeating the breach of contract claim. We therefore reverse the trial court’s order and remand for further proceedings.

I.

BACKGROUND

In preparing a bid for construction of a municipal library, Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc. (Barnhart), a general contractor, solicited bids from subcontractors for certain decorative metalwork. CMC Fabricators, Inc. (CMC), submitted a bid for the metalwork dated November 5, 2005. CMC’s bid provided it would “remain in force for thirty days from the above date unless accepted by [Barnhart] or withdrawn by [CMC],” and contained a space for Barnhart to indicate acceptance by signature. Although Barnhart never signed CMC’s bid, it used CMC’s price in preparing its own bid for the library project.

On…