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Monday, April 20, 2009

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

Updating this ILB entry from April 16th, Vic Ryckaert had a story in the Indianapolis Star on April 17th headlined "Lawyers hopeful that library can win on appeal." Some quotes:

Lawyers for the Indianapolis library system expressed optimism Thursday about the chances of overturning a jury verdict against its claims of fraud in the Central Library construction project.

However, members of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library board have not decided whether to appeal the verdict, which cleared New York-based engineering company Thornton Tomasetti of fraud in connection with $50 million in cost overruns stemming from defects in the Downtown building's underground garage.

Also on the 17th, this article by Jon Murray on the library's financial picture and its legal opinions. Re the latter, Murray writes:
The library's legal options are running short:

» Ask the Indiana Supreme Court to reinstate negligence claims against Thornton Tomasetti that the trial judge dismissed, a decision already upheld by the Indiana Court of Appeals.

» Start an appeal of another pretrial ruling barring it from pressing breach of contract claims originally made against Thornton Tomasetti by the project's architects. The library assumed those claims through its settlement with the architects, Woollen, Molzan and Partners.

Today the Star has this editorial, headed "After library loss, lessons learned?." It begins:
Barring a spectacular late-inning rally, the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Board will finish its long season of Central Library litigation with a .500 batting average.

That's not bad, considering the current troubles some other publicly funded edifices have been facing lately.

But it's not good, seeing as taxpayers may be on the hook for roughly $25 million that might have been saved had the board hired a general contractor for Central and not tried to head up the complex expansion project on its own.

Be that as it may, the board seemed well on its way toward recouping all or most of the $50 million cost overrun after successfully suing various parties involved in the bollixed construction. Those settlements added up to about $25 million; the remainder was sought in a lawsuit against the design engineer, Thornton Tomasetti of New York.

A Boone County jury last week spoiled the run, clearing Thornton Tomasetti of fraud and sticking the library board with a $712,000 counterclaim for good measure.

While the victorious defendants were quick to accuse the library folks of squandering taxpayer money in frivolous litigation, the plaintiffs deserve the benefit of the doubt for pursuing an avenue that did, after all, yield $25 million worth of success.

Now, the board must decide whether to follow the unpromising course of appealing the verdict, or to cut its losses.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 20, 2009 01:23 PM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions