Partners Colby Balkenbush and Aaron Cohn Prevail in California Breach of Contract Trial

California jury awards only $12,000 to contractor in breach of contract trial where contractor asked jury for over $2.2 million in damages against WWHGD client.

Plaintiff Verdict of $12,168.12; Initial Demand Amount of $2.2 million

This case involved a contract dispute between one of the largest framing subcontractors in California (Davis Development) and a lumber supplier (ProBuild Company, LLC dba Dixieline).  Davis was the framing subcontractor for a luxury apartment project in Los Angeles.  In December 2020, Dixieline provided a lumber bid to Davis that offered to supply lumber for the project for $1.7 million.  The bid further provided that the pricing would expire if all lumber was not delivered by February 7, 2021 or earlier.  

In April 2021, Davis reached out to Dixieline asking if Dixieline could begin delivering lumber to the project in late May 2021.  Dixieline stated that the wholesale price of lumber had gone up significantly since the December 2020 bid was issued, and the lumber would therefore have to be repriced at approximately $2.9 million.  Davis refused to accept Dixieline’s new bid price and instead purchased the lumber from a different lumber supplier for $3.4 million.  Davis then sued Dixieline for breach of contract, seeking the difference between the $3.4 million it paid to the new lumber supplier and the $1.7 million original Dixieline bid, in addition to over $500,000 in pre-judgment interest. 

After a two-week jury trial, the jury found that the February 7, 2021 bid expiration date in Dixieline’s December 2020 bid had been extended by the conduct of Dixieline’s sales representatives and that Dixieline had breached the parties’ contract by refusing to supply lumber to Davis in late May 2021 at the original December 2020 bid price.  However, the jury also found that Davis had successfully passed on all but $12,168.12 of the increased lumber price to its general contractor client.  

On the eve of trial, Dixieline offered to settle with Davis for $1 million.  Davis rejected this offer insisting that it would not accept anything less than $1.5 million.  At trial, Davis’s counsel asked the jury to award over $2.2 million in damages to Davis.  Instead, the jury awarded Davis a mere $12,168.12.  Therefore, through its successful defense at trial, Weinberg Wheeler saved Dixieline over $2 million.