Carlisle v. T&R Excavating, Inc.

704 N.E.2d 39 (1997)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

T & R Excavating Inc. is solely owned by H. Janis Carlisle (W) is the owner and director of Wishing Well Inc. and trustee of The Enrichment Center of Wishing Well Inc., both of which were also plaintiffs in this action. Shortly after they were married, W began doing all of the bookkeeping for T & R, including organizing and modernizing its bookkeeping system. H allegedly offered to pay her for her work, but she refused. H then allegedly stated to her that he would, instead, 'do [her] work for [her] on [her] building.' W decided to build a preschool and kindergarten facility. H presented a 'Proposal' to W where H would do the following: All of the excavation and site work. The total amount budgeted for this portion of the new building is $69,800.00. All labor, equipment costs, overhead and profit, necessary for the completion of this project, totaling $40,000.00 will be provided at no cost to Wishing Well Preschool, Inc. The $29,800.00 allotted for materials will be billed to Wishing Well Preschool, Inc. at T & R Excavating's cost. W signed an 'Acceptance of Proposal.' During December 1992, H and W, in anticipation of a possible divorce, prepared a document in which they made provision for the division of certain property and agreed that neither would be responsible for supporting the other. In repayment for her secretarial services and computer programming to T & R Excavating, Inc., H agreed to do all the excavating and site work for The Enrichment Center in a timely manner, as set forth in his proposal dated September 1992. In this proposal, Wishing Well Preschool, Inc., agrees to pay H for the materials used at his cost. There is no charge for labor and equipment. H never signed the document. H began performing excavation and site work for the preschool. W no longer providing any bookkeeping or secretarial services to T & R after January 1993. They separated during March 1993, and H continued working on the project until it abandoned it in late May or early June 1993. Wishing Well Inc. had paid approximately $ 35,000 for materials used by H for excavation and site work. Ms. Carlisle hired other workers to finish the excavation and site work. The preschool opened for business on August 28, 1993, one week later than originally planned. W sued H for breach of contract. The trial court found that there was a contract for the excavation and site work and awarded W $ 35,790.75 in damages for the cost of hiring others to finish that work. H appealed.