CONDON-JOHNSON & ASSOCIATES, INC., v. SACRAMENTO MUNICIPAL UTILITY DIST. Part I
The term "indicated" as used in Public Contract Code Sec. 7104, which requires that a local public entity that has contracted for public work involving an excavation deeper than four feet issue a change order altering the contractor's cost of performing the work when the subsurface conditions at the jobsite materially differ from those "indicated" in the contract refers to contract information provided prospective bidders from which an inference reasonably might be drawn as to the actual subsurface conditions at the work site. Where contract set forth soil boring information for a purpose that invited contractor to infer that the type of rock in the test samples would be the type of rock that may be "expected" or "encountered" in performing the work, and contractor subsequently sued because city refused to issue a change order after contractor encountered a very different type of rock, trial court correctly refused to allow jury to consider as contrary to Sec. 7104 general disclaimers in contract that purported to impose on contractor sole responsibility for technical assessment of subsurface conditions.
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