{"id":898016,"date":"2020-09-29T16:53:06","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T22:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=898016"},"modified":"2020-09-29T16:53:09","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T22:53:09","slug":"time-is-of-the-essence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/time-is-of-the-essence\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Tennessee Construction Cases Regarding Effects of Unlicensed Contracting and \u201cTime is of the Essence\u201d Clauses in Contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Allison Wiseman Acker, Shayne R. Clinton, John W. Dawson IV, Brian M. Dodds, Jeff Gibson, L. Wearen Hughes and John S. Golwen | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bassberry.com\/news\/tennessee-construction-cases-unlicensed-contracting-and-time-is-of-the-essence-clauses\/\">Bass, Berry &amp; Sims<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While neither of the recent cases discussed below establishes new law, they serve as good reminders of principles and requirements that can be important to participants in construction projects in Tennessee. The first case,\u00a0<em>Sifuentes v. D.E.C, LLC<\/em>, addresses the effects on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/subcontractor-pay-if-paid-provisions-enforced\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subcontractor\u2019s remedies<\/a> of not being licensed as a contractor as required in Tennessee. The second case,\u00a0<em>Clark v. Givens,<\/em>\u00a0involves the effect of a construction agreement not containing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/waiver-of-time-of-performance-provisions-in-construction-contracts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201ctime is of the essence\u201d provision<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Unlicensed Subcontractor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sifuentes v. D.E.C, LLC<\/em>&nbsp;was a suit by an electrical subcontractor against a general contractor to recover amounts for breach of contract, quantum meruit (also called unjust enrichment), promissory estoppel, and promissory fraud. The trial court dismissed on summary judgment all claims because the subcontractor was not licensed as an electrical subcontractor as required in Tennessee and, thus, could not pursue those claims. On appeal, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled the quantum meruit claim should not have been dismissed, but otherwise affirmed the trial court\u2019s judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The court based its ruling primarily on case law in Tennessee related to the effects of a contractor being unlicensed and on Tenn. Code Ann. \u00a7 62-6-103, which limits recovery by unlicensed contractors to \u201cactual documented expenses that can be shown by clear and convincing proof.\u201d While disagreeing with the trial court\u2019s reasoning that this provision creates a statutory cause of action for unlicensed contractors, the Court of Appeals said the statute limits the measure of recoverable damages for an unlicensed contractor, consistent with applicable law. Therefore, the claim for quantum meruit, which technically seeks the value of the benefit conferred on the other party when there is no enforceable express contract, was not barred by the subcontractor\u2019s unlicensed status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Time is of the Essence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Clark v. Givens<\/em>&nbsp;involved claims between a residential homeowner and a contractor arising out of an oral contract for construction services. Among the issues involved on appeal was whether the trial court erred in dismissing the parties\u2019 claims and rescinding the oral contract for the parties\u2019 mutual mistake as to the time for completion. The Court of Appeals ruled the trial court erred, based on established case law that a party\u2019s failure to complete a project within the time for completion does not constitute a material breach absent a provision in the contract making time of the essence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Allison Wiseman Acker, Shayne R. Clinton, John W. Dawson IV, Brian M. Dodds, Jeff Gibson, L. Wearen Hughes and John S. Golwen | Bass, Berry &amp; Sims While neither of the recent cases discussed below establishes new law, they serve as good reminders of principles and requirements that can be important to participants in construction&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/time-is-of-the-essence\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Recent Tennessee Construction Cases Regarding Effects of Unlicensed Contracting and \u201cTime is of the Essence\u201d Clauses in Contracts<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,9],"tags":[9895,224,11307,11306],"class_list":["post-898016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","category-construction-contracts","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-contract","tag-subcontractors-remedies","tag-time-is-of-the-essence-provision","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Recent Tennessee Construction Cases Regarding Effects of Unlicensed Contracting and \u201cTime is of the Essence\u201d Clauses in Contracts - Advise &amp; 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