Summary
The Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment arising from a residential pool construction dispute. The court held that the contract's limitation of liability to repair damages encompassed remedial costs to complete unfinished work, that sufficient evidence supported the Fields' $68,000 completion-cost damages, and that Elite was not entitled to attorneys' fees because it recovered no damages.
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Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the construction contract’s limitation of liability to repair of the swimming pool excluded recovery of the cost to complete unfinished work.
- Whether legally sufficient evidence supported the trial court’s award of $68,000 in remedial completion damages.
- Whether Elite was entitled to attorneys’ fees under Chapter 38 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code despite recovering no net damages and being ordered to take nothing.
Holdings
- A construction-contract provision limiting liability to the cost to repair the swimming pool did not exclude recovery of the cost to complete unfinished work. The provision limited liability to remedial damages generally, including appropriate completion costs.
- Legally sufficient evidence supported the $68,000 award for the cost to complete the pool.
- Elite was not entitled to attorneys’ fees under Chapter 38 because it recovered no damages and was ordered to take nothing.
Key quotations
“Given that cost to complete and cost to repair are two ways of saying remedial damages, and construing the damages provision “to mean something rather than nothing at all,” we hold that the parties unambiguously intended to limit liability to remedial damages generally, and thus permit recovery of the cost to complete the work, as awarded by the trial court.” (at 5)
“The trial court correctly declined to award attorneys’ fees to Elite because the Fields’ $68,000 loss exceeded Elite’s loss, making the Fields the prevailing party.” (at 7)
Factual background
Elite Concepts contracted with David and Bria Field in June 2021 to construct a custom swimming pool for $222,144. The contract limited the contractor’s liability and the buyers’ exclusive remedy to repair of the pool and contained a prevailing-party attorneys’ fees provision. During construction, the Fields requested upgrades and changes reflected in change orders; after the Fields failed to pay the second and third change orders, Elite stopped work and repossessed some equipment. The Fields paid another contractor approximately $81,199.57 to complete the pool, and the trial court found $68,000 in reasonable completion damages while also finding that Elite was owed $61,114.98 in quantum meruit.
Procedural history
The Fields sued Elite Concepts and Mike Nantz for breach of contract and other claims, seeking damages and attorneys’ fees. Elite and Nantz counterclaimed for breach of contract and quantum meruit and sought attorneys’ fees. After a bench trial, the trial court found that Elite breached the contract by stopping work, awarded the Fields $68,000 in completion damages offset by Elite’s $61,114.98 quantum meruit recovery, entered a net judgment of $6,885.02 for the Fields, and awarded stipulated attorneys’ fees to the Fields while ordering Elite to take nothing. Elite’s motion to modify was overruled by operation of law. The appeal was transferred from the Fifth Court of Appeals to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals under a Texas Supreme Court docket-equalization order.