Contractor sues Coralville over payment

A Dubuque-based construction company hired by Coralville for its First Avenue Corridor Flood Recovery project is suing the city for more than $200,000 on accusations that it wrongfully withheld a chunk of payment.

According to a lawsuit filed in Johnson County District Court on Friday, Tricon General Construction Inc. entered into a contract with the city of Coralville on June 4, 2010, for its “First Avenue Corridor Flood Recovery and Protection 2010” project.

Officials with Tricon state in the lawsuit that the company started and performed its obligations according to the contract, and the work was substantially completed by April 29, 2011. However, according to the lawsuit, city project engineers sent Tricon a letter in June 2012 notifying company officials of their intention to withhold payment of $198,500 “because of alleged delays.”

The city said in its letter that it's entitled to delay damages at a rate of $500 a day from April 29, 2011, to May 30, 2012, according to the lawsuit. Tricon officials in the suit said they agree that they're liable for delay damages through July 13, 2011, but not a single day after.

And, according to the lawsuit, Tricon is accusing Coralville of causing significant delay in the company's efforts to complete the project on time by failing to secure access to a piece of property needed to complete work in a timely fashion “on an earthen berm that was part of the project.” The construction company also blames Coralville for a delay in providing fiber-optic connections necessary for the completion of aspects of the project, according to the lawsuit.

Because the company agrees it's responsible for some of the delay, it is asserting in the lawsuit that Coralville owes it $161,000. And because of the delays it is claiming the city caused, Tricon is asking the court to award it an additional $26,000 for a project manager who had to be on site longer than expected and an additional $14,512.50 for a project superintendent's extra time on site.

In total, the company is asking a jury to award it $201,512.50 from the city of Coralville.

At the Coralville City Council's July 10 meeting, members approved the $198,500 in deductions for “liquidated damages.”

In the council's information packet for that meeting, a city engineer quoted the contract that stated a contracted company agreed to complete work on or before March 8, 2011, and that landscaping should be finished on or before May 1, 2011, unless an extension is granted.

At the same July 10 meeting, the council adopted a resolution accepting the flood recovery and protection project as completed.

City Attorney Kevin Olson told The Gazette that the city “disagrees completely” that Tricon's work was substantially completed by April 29, 2011. He said the delays caused Coralville to pay in excess of $100,000 in additional inspection fees “because they were not done when they were supposed to be done.”

“I would dispute that they were substantially completed by that date, and we'll hold them accountable for the extra fees we incurred,” Olson said.