Los Angeles Unified School Dist. v. Great American Ins. Co

In Los Angeles Unified School Dist. v. Great American Ins. Co. (2010) 49 Cal.4th 739, the California Supreme Court clarified the circumstances under which a contractor can recover damages from a public entity for failure to disclose facts that would affect the contractor's bid or performance. The California Supreme Court held that "a contractor on a public works contract may be entitled to relief for a public entity's nondisclosure in the following limited circumstances: (1) the contractor submitted its bid or undertook to perform without material information that affected performance costs; (2) the public entity was in possession of the information and was aware the contractor had no knowledge of, nor any reason to obtain, such information; (3) any contract specifications or other information furnished by the public entity to the contractor misled the contractor or did not put it on notice to inquire; (4) the public entity failed to provide the relevant information. The circumstances affecting recovery may include, but are not limited to, positive warranties or disclaimers made by either party, the information provided by the plans and specifications and related documents, the difficulty of detecting the condition in question, any time constraints the public entity imposed on proposed bidders, and any unwarranted assumptions made by the contractor. The public entity may not be held liable for failing to disclose information a reasonable contractor in like circumstances would or should have discovered on its own, but may be found liable when the totality of the circumstances is such that the public entity knows, or has reason to know, a responsible contractor acting diligently would be unlikely to discover the condition that materially increased the cost of performance." (Los Angeles Unified, supra, 49 Cal.4th at pp. 753-754.)