I know that sometimes it’s just a game with attorneys when it comes to putting the amount of damages in a lawsuit. But nevertheless, the fact that the County is suing Farnsworth Group for $9 million is pretty shocking. A copy of the lawsuit is here.
Among the allegations are that Farnsworth designed the HVAC system incorrectly, that they designed the building to be too low, that they recommended Magic-Aire air handlers that were not up to specifications, and that they didn’t implement a remedy to the HVAC problem in a timely way.
There are a few intriguing items here that I’ll post on over the course of the next few weeks. Clearly, no one anticipated that the County had been damaged to the extent of $9 million but that we’ll all be happy as taxpayers if we can get that much money out of the architects (presuming our claim is equitable). At the same time, we all know well that there’s another side to this issue.
Isuppose the 9 million dollar figure was deemed appropriate due to the wealth of lawsuite crazy lawyers in the CU community. A recent car accident brought a call from one of these vultures asking if I wanted some type of representation, etc. ...pretty cheesy.
These types of legal actions are called "urination" contests in the design professional arena because they rely on professionals testifying against each other. That does not happen in the legal profession, it is common knowlege in this area that attorneys will not sue attorneys, and for sure attorneys will not testifiy against attorneys (There but for the grace of God stand I)
Fortunately, unlike the legal profession, all design professionals will attempt to provide the trier of the fact the best and most accurate information (It helps maintain the integrity of the professions). Unfortunately, those attempts are usually significantly hampered by the legal professsion and the lack of accurate knowlege about the design area and the sculpting of questions in a manner that may provide the truth, but not "the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God". The ultimate and final finding, will be the best the trier of facts can do, considering the fact presented, or lack thereof
Were there mistakes made in this matter? Absolutely, and by both parties. Common sense tells you that if you have cost overruns in the millions that someone made a mistake and someone made a mistake when they paid for it. The "Boiler Plate" articles in the specification have many details on the "checks and balance" system in contracts to avoid these types of problems. Usually those monitoring duties are performed by another contractor, what happened?
Those observations being made, my real wonder is:
If 9 milion is the actual damages the taxpayers have suffered and is necessary to "fix" the problem, OK. But historically the attorneys get 1/3 of the award for their fees, if the legal service is provided on a contingency. Are the taxpayers going to pay the attorneys 3 milliion "attaboy" money and still be short 3 million in HVAC for the nursing home?