Colusa Casino wins millions in settlement
Colusa Casino wins millions in settlement with AECOM subsidiary -
A construction company owned by global engineering firm AECOM has paid $20 million to the owners of the Colusa Casino Resort in a settlement that concludes a five-year lawsuit over claims of shoddy work. The tribe expects to receive the funds Wednesday.
The lawsuit between the Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians and Hunt Construction Group went to trial in Sacramento County Superior Court in January, said attorney Dan Steinberg of Trainor Fairbrook, the Sacramento firm representing the tribe.
Hunt Construction, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based firm owned by AECOM; Atlantic City, N.J.-based SOSH Architects; and their subcontractors agreed to the settlement after two-and-a-half months. It covered a range of construction elements for two restaurants and a hotel.
“The tribe wanted the right thing to happen. They wanted Hunt to step up and take responsibility, and Hunt finally did,” Steinberg said.
Hunt's attorney, James Murphy of Chapman Glucksman Dean Roeb & Barger, could not be reached for comment.
The tribe hired Hunt and Sosh Architects in 2004 to build a hotel for the casino, a warehouse and two restaurants. Construction was finished in 2005. Five years later the windows began to leak, according to the tribe's lawsuit. Hunt Construction denied responsibility, suggesting the window problem was a warranty issue and not a defect, said Steinberg, an attorney with the construction department of Trainor Fairbrook.
Further investigation revealed a slew of safety and structural problems in both the hotel and the two restaurants, said Steinberg. The hotel walls and roof leaked. The fire sprinklers were improperly installed, and other construction elements failed to meet building code.
The tribe shut down the hotel in 2010, and brought in Sacramento-based Poelman Construction Ltd. the next year to make repairs. The property re-opened in 2012.
The tribe filed suit against Hunt and SOSH in 2011 and entered mediation with the construction companies the next year. Over the next four years of mediation, Hunt never admitted liability and declined to make a settlement offer, Steinberg said.
Hunt filed its own lawsuit, claiming that its subcontractors were responsible for the defects. Some of those subcontractors settled with Hunt, some settled separately with the tribe, and still others were included in the final settlement.
SOSH settled with the tribe but remained in the lawsuit for reimbursement from Hunt, which the company found responsible for many of the defects.
The tribe made a formal demand in 2015 for $22.5 million, asking to either settle or go to trial. The case went to trial in January. The parties agreed to the $20 million settlement in late March.
The tribe refused to sign a confidentiality agreement as a term of the settlement because it wanted to make the details public, said Steinberg.
“It was important to the tribe to have the freedom to discuss what happened, to tell how Hunt refused to take responsibility for the majority of the litigation,” he said.
~http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2016/06/22/colusa-casino-se ttles-for-20-million-with-firm.html ~
Artist/Author: Allen Young, Sacramento Business Journal October 7, 2016 | |
