R.A. Bright Construction v. Weis Builders

State: Illinois

Court: 3rd District Appellate

Docket No: 3-09-0910 Rel

Case Date: 06/09/2010

Preview:No. 3--09--0910 Filed June 9, 2010 IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS THIRD DISTRICT A.D., 2010 R.A BRIGHT CONSTRUCTION, INC.,) an Illinois Corporation, ) ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) v. ) ) WEIS BUILDERS, INC., a ) Minnesota Corporation, ) ) Defendant-Appellant. ) Appeal from the Circuit Court of the 12th Judicial Circuit Will County, Illinois No. 08--L--905

Honorable Barbara Petrungaro, Judge, Presiding.

JUSTICE SCHMIDT delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, R.A. Bright Construction, Inc. (Bright), brought this breach of contract action against defendant, Weis Builders, Inc. (Weis), in the circuit court of Will County. Defendant

filed a motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, to stay the action and compel arbitration. motion. The trial court denied Weis's

Weis filed this interlocutory appeal, claiming the trial

court erred when denying its motion to compel arbitration. BACKGROUND Weis entered into a contract with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., for the construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter store in Lockport,

Illinois.

Weis is a Minnesota corporation that maintains offices Weis, as general contractor, engaged Bright to

in four states.

act as a subcontractor to perform concrete work and underground utilities work on the project. Bright is an Illinois corporation

with its principle place of business in Plainfield, Illinois. Around October 20, 2006, Bright and Weis entered into a written subcontract agreement wherein Bright agreed to perform the concrete work for $2,930,000. Around November 14, 2006, Weis and

Bright entered into a second written subcontract agreement wherein Bright agreed to perform the underground utilities work for $679,567. The record is clear that both subcontract There are no

agreements were properly signed by each party.

allegations of fraud or misrepresentations leading to the formation of these contracts. From the record, it appears that

each party freely entered into the contracts with full knowledge of the contractual terms and conditions. A dispute between the parties arose in which Bright claimed it was owed $765,701 under both contracts. Bright is entitled to these monies. sued. Weis denies that

On November 18, 2008, Bright

In response, Weis filed a "motion to dismiss and compel

arbitration or, alternatively, to stay proceedings and to compel arbitration," claiming that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) (9 U.S.C.

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