Contractor Awarded $14.5 Million
An Orange County Superior Court jury has awarded $14.5 million to an Irvine contractor who charged that an Australian quarry company breached a contract to supply him with material, the contractor and his attorney said.
The award was made Friday to J.W. Mitchell, who said he filed suit a year ago against Boral Industries of Sydney, Australia, to recover his losses.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 21, 1990 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday March 21, 1990 Orange County Edition Business Part D Page 2 Column 3 Financial Desk 1 inches; 30 words Type of Material: Correction
Contract dispute--A story about Irvine contractor J.W. Mitchell receiving a $14.5-million award from an Orange County jury in a contract dispute misidentified the company’s attorney. He is Richard C. Goodman.
Mitchell’s attorney, John Charles Goodman, said the matter arose out of the $17.5-million sale of his client’s 127-acre hard-rock quarry in Corona in Riverside County. Goodman said as a condition of the sale, Boral had agreed to supply Mitchell with 500,000 tons of rock yearly for the remainder of his life. But Boral reneged on the contract about six months after the sale in December, 1987, he said.
Mitchell said he was forced to shut down his rock distribution and general engineering companies after Boral failed to supply him with the material. He said several of his clients had also suffered because he could not deliver on their orders.
After an 18-day trial, the jury took three days before deciding on the award.
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