Richard E. Reeves v. Hill Aero

On June 23, 1983, plaintiff-appellant, Richard E. Reeves (Reeves), an architect, filed this action against Call Brothers, Ltd. (Call Bros.), a corporation, and defendant-appellee, Hill Aero, Inc. (Hill Aero), seeking damages arising from the alleged breach of a written owner-architect agreement for the design and construction of a hangar/office complex at the Lincoln Municipal Airport. Reeves had completed the design portion of the work and had submitted plans, when the contract was terminated. Reeves claimed Hill Aero breached the contract by using Reeves' work product to construct a building using plans substantially the same as those developed by Reeves. Reeves subsequently dismissed the action against Call Bros. and filed an amended petition naming Hill Aero as the sole defendant. On November 19, 1985, the parties waived a jury trial, and the matter was tried to the district court for Lancaster County upon a stipulated record consisting of the documents and letters between the parties. In dismissing Reeves' amended petition, the trial court found that the contract was terminated pursuant to contract article 8 and that Hill Aero paid Reeves compensation for his services to that termination date, plus termination expenses. The court held that contract article 9 provided ""the drawings and specifications shall remain the property of the plaintiff, but only prohibits their use by [Hill Aero] on other projects or extensions to this project without permission"" (emphasis in original) and that Hill Aero was not prohibited from using them on the pending hangar project. The court further held that even if Reeves were entitled to recover, there was no evidence of actual damages.