January 5, 2004

Judge Throws Out California School District’s Attempt to Rip Off Contractor on Bid Error

In the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, Division One

Emma Corporation’s low bid for an elementary school project for the Inglewood Unified School District, CA omitted a $786,000 line item for plumbing and site utility work. Upon learning of the error, Emma submitted a timely bid withdrawal letter which, however, did not fully comply with the technical details of the Public Contract’s Code requirements for bid withdrawals. That is, it did not spell out the details of the mistake and how it occurred. Nevertheless, the district’s agents, who suspected immediately that there was a mistake, seized the opportunity to take advantage of the bid withdrawal technical errors and deliberately misled Emma down the path of forfeiting its bid bond.

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