RICHARD O. BECKER AND JON O. BECKER, PLAINTIFFS-RESPONDENTS, V. CRISPELL-SNYDER, INC. AND CONTINENTAL CASUALTY COMPANY, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS., 2009 WI App 24

Summary

The owners purchased the property in the town after the town assured them that developing the parcel would be very profitable. After having made a substantial investment in the subdivision, the town forced the owners to change engineers, telling them that they had to use the firm, the town's engineering firm for thirty years, or construction was going to be shut down and the subdivision was not going to happen. Based on the certain assurances, the owners signed the developer's agreement with the town. The firm billed the town for its time spent on the development, pursuant to its oral public works contract with the town, and all the while, the agreement made the owners liable for the firm's invoices. The appellate court ruled that the owners had standing to sue on the contract between the town and firm, because the owners were a third-party beneficiary of the public works contract between the town and the firm. As a condition of development, the owners were obliged to pay the firm's ...