Main Electric, Ltd. v. Printz Services Corp.
Colorado Supreme Court
980 P.2d 522 (1999)
Printz Services Corporation (defendant), general contractor on a casino project, subcontracted work to C.J. Masonry and Main Electric (plaintiffs) under a contract providing they'd be paid by Printz provided 'like payment shall have been made by Owner' to Printz. After the owner went insolvent and lost the property in foreclosure without paying Printz, Printz refused to pay the subcontractors, who sued for breach of contract; the trial court ruled for the subcontractors, but the court of appeals reversed, treating the payment clause as an unfulfilled condition precedent to Printz's obligation. The subcontractors appealed further.
Whether, in Colorado construction contracts, a pay-if-paid clause is enforceable when the contract clearly and explicitly makes the owner's payment to the general contractor a condition precedent to the general contractor's obligation to pay the subcontractor.