St. Mary’s County Commissioners sealed the deal this week on a 4-year-old lawsuit against a pair of contracting firms whose faulty work allegedly cost the county near $2 million in repairs.
The commissioners accepted a settlement award of $1.25 million from the Circuit Court case, after discussing it in private during an executive session Tuesday.
In May 2002, the commissioners filed a lawsuit claiming numerous HVAC and storm water problems in Building A and Building B of the College of Southern Maryland Leonardtown Campus.
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Commissioner President Tommy McKay told The Bay Net the original claim was for $2 million, but county officials conceded that a portion of the loss could not be proved to be the fault of the contractors.
The agreement is with the firms Richter Cornbrooks, Gribble, Inc., and Burdette, Koehler, Murphy & Associates, Inc., the general contractor and HVAC contractor.
“We really ended up with a real good deal for the citizens with the recovery of this money,” McKay said, adding that the first offer to settle was for $100,000, but the county kept “pushing and persisting.”
Judgment was issued in favor of the County on March 16, and the last few months have been dedicated to the award amount.
The case took four years because it was complicated, Mckay said.
“It was a huge case, the testimony in circuit court took close to 6 months,” he said. “Both sides have their army of experts … there was numerous expert testimony brought from both sides.”
The original building contract was between $8.5 million and $9 million.
Even though the county didn’t win the entire $2 million sought, McKay said county officials obtained the maximum amount that could have been expected.
“We took away any opportunity to appeal,” he said. “So it’s a settlement now, it’s a done deal.”