West Coast bid on a department construction project. The department awarded the contract to HP instead. West Coast sued and obtained a summary adjudication that HP’s bid was non-responsive due to material mathematical errors and other problems. The department ordered HP to begin work anyway. West Coast then obtained an injunction stopping the work. But the trial court declined to order the department to award the contract to West Coast, and the department did not do so voluntarily. This decision holds that under these circumstances— an injunction to stop the winning bidder from proceeding, but no award of the contract to the plaintiff—the trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding West Coast recovery of its bid preparation costs on a promissory estoppel theory.
California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 1 (Benke, J.); February 22, 2018 (published March 19, 2018); 2018 WL 1372275