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Thursday, April 16, 2009

Ind. Decisions - "Its legal battle lost, library may still have to pay more"

Updating this ILB entry from yesterday, Jon Murray of the Indianapolis Star has a much-expanded report today on yesterday afternoon's jury decision. It begins:

Staring down overruns that topped $50 million on a marquee project, the Indianapolis library system sunk millions more into a legal fight for redemption. The boldest bet ended in a new fiasco Wednesday.

After a five-week trial involving the last holdout, a New York-based engineering firm, the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library's struggle to win $24.5 million in damages resulted in the firm being cleared of fraud -- and the library on the hook, perhaps, for another $700,000.
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Many of the dozen or so contractors targeted by the library for their role in the bungled project to renovate and expand the Downtown Central Library have signed settlements. But Thornton Tomasetti defended its design work vigorously to the Boone County jury against accusations that it had misrepresented the reasons behind design changes later tied to defects in the project's underground garage.

"They got it right," said Daniel A. Cuoco, Thornton Tomasetti's president and chief executive officer, who was at the Lebanon courthouse for the verdict. "They were able to see through the smokescreens and false allegations."

The Library Board will begin to consider its options at a meeting tonight.

The legal effort has recouped about half of the project's overruns through settlements worth more than $25 million, including $21.5 million in payments.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 16, 2009 01:10 PM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions