Sciaba v. Boston, 35 Mass. App. Ct. 181 (1993) Boston awarded a contract to Modern Continental on the basis of its low lump sum bid even though Modern made a mistake in one of its unit prices, and when the unit prices were totaled as required by the bid documents, Sciaba, not Modern, was the low bidder. The Court decided Boston could ignore Modern's mistake in the unit price because it was an "obvious clerical error".
Fontaine Brothers v. Springfield, 35 Mass. App. Ct. 155 (1993) Where the contract gives the architect the power to make a final decision on the meaning of plans and specifications, The Appeals Court rules it will rubber stamp the architect's decision absent proof of bad faith, fraud, arbitrary conduct, or unless the architect exceeds the scope of his authority under the contract.
Chestnut Adams v. Bricklayers and Masons Trust Fund, 415 Mass. 87 (1993) A trade union may not enforce a mechanic's lien to secure unpaid employee benefits on a project because the Court holds a federal statute, the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), invalidates all state law relating to employee benefit plans, even a mechanic's lien statute which helps a plan collect benefits due it
Canam Steel v. Bowdoin Construction, 34 Mass. App. Ct. 943 (1993) A general contractor who promised by letter to issue a joint check to its steel subcontractor and that subcontractor's supplier within 60 days of invoice, was obligated to do so even though the owner had not paid the general contractor for the steel.
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