In March 2024, a trial court in New York upheld a Contract Dispute Resolution Board’s (CDRB) decision to dismiss a contractor’s claim for extra work items in connection with a New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) project. Rockmore Contracting Corp. v. City of New York, 2024 NY Slip Op 30959 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cnty.).
In Rockmore, a contractor submitted a final verified statement consisting of an open change order log on a DDC project with its substantial completion payment application. After the City refused to pay the open change orders, the dispute was submitted to the CDRB who dismissed the claim because the change order log did not identify “the various items of labor and materials included” in each change order as required under Article 44 of the standard New York City contract.
The court, in upholding the CDRB’s decision, determined that the contractor failed to satisfy Article 44 by not itemizing the labor and material included in each change order and that merely attaching a change order log to its final verified statement was insufficient to do so.
Comment:
Generally, in New York, a contractor must strictly comply with notice provisions contained in a public improvement contract such as the standard New York City contract. In this case, while the change order log contained a brief description of the extra work item and its value, it did not itemize the labor and material as required under Article 44 of the contract. Had the contractor simply attached a copy of each change order proposal, assuming it was itemized, it would most likely have satisfied this notice provision and therefore preserved its extra work claims.
About the author: George Marco is an attorney practicing in the field of construction law. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and was previously employed as a Project Manager for a public improvement contractor.
If you would like more information regarding this topic or any other related to construction law please contact George Marco at george@gmarcolaw.com or call (516) 464-2320.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not intended to serve as legal counsel.
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