Southern States Masonry, Inc. v. J.A. Jones Construction Company

507 So. 2d 198 (1987)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The owner of the 1984 Louisiana World's Fair, Louisiana World Exposition, Inc. (LWE), filed for bankruptcy before having fully paid its general contractors. When LWE failed, Ps demanded payment from Ds for the work they had satisfactorily completed. Ds based their refusal to pay on the articles of the subcontracts, which provide, in pertinent part: 3. . . . Contractor shall pay to Subcontractor, upon receipt of payment from the Owner, an amount equal to the value of Subcontractor's completed work, to the extent allowed and paid by Owner on account of Subcontractor's Work. The trial court held in one case that the contract provisions conditioned payment by D to P on payment to D by LWE. This judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeal. In the second case, the court ruled for P but the Court of Appeal reversed. Ds had argued successfully that they were not obligated to make payments unless and until they received corresponding funds from LWE. Ps appealed and the cases were consolidated.