School construction dispute might be going to court

By John Loesing Acorn Staff Writer

A lawsuit over construction delays at White Oak Elementary School in the city of Westlake Village is scheduled for a May 6 trial date, but the two sides in the dispute say they hope they can settle their differences out of court to save huge legal fees that could wind up in the laps of the taxpayers.

Forest Construction of Camarillo says Las Virgenes Unified School District still owes about $1 million for the construction of the elementary school’s new multipurpose building, parking lot and other improvements.

LVUSD claims the construction company finished the $2.7 million project a year behind schedule and promises to fight the lawsuit in Van Nuys Superior Court, if necessary.

Mediation talks in December broke down and the two sides have been unable to decide when and where to meet again.

Unless an 11th hour agreement can be reached, the court has set a mandatory settlement conference for next Mon., Feb. 24, followed by the May trial.

LVUSD awarded Forest the White Oak contract in July 1999, but the project immediately bogged down when another low bidder filed an injunction to force the winning contractor off the job. Although Forest ultimately kept the contract, other problems arose, including the company’s request for 82 plan alterations—or change orders—during the construction period.

LVUSD reportedly allowed only 16 of the changes.

Forest said the changes were necessary because the project architect prepared faulty designs. Steven Queen, project manager, called plans for the fire alarms "horrible" and said his electrician had to perform work for which he wasn’t paid.

Leidenfrost & Horowitz of Pasadena, the White Oak architect, couldn’t be reached for comment.

"We had a very specific phasing plan, first things first, second things second, and [LVUSD] decided right off the bat, well, we don’t want to do that second, let’s do that first," Queen said. "The whole thing just kind of got all balled up."

Queen said the delays resulted in big cost overruns, which Forest is trying to recoup.

"Forest seems to be blaming much of the problems on the architect," said Jim Wiederschall, LVUSD attorney. "We don’t believe that’s the case at all … This job was supposed to be completed in 365 days. It took almost two years to complete. We have our own beliefs as to why the job was not completed."

The school district alleges Forest ran into problems with its own subcontractors, which caused delays and shoddy work.

Several of the subcontractors have joined with Forest in the suit against the school district. Others have filed complaints on their own. LVUSD, in turn, filed a counter-complaint against Forest.

To sign off on the project, Forest said it was forced to complete a "punch list" of chores it was never paid or contracted to do.

"If it were a few minor issues, it wasn’t a big deal, but they started to get so big and so far over, we were too far out of pocket and just couldn’t get our money back," Queen said.

According to Wiederschall, "The district bent over backwards to give Forest every benefit of the doubt and extended every opportunity for Forest to get the work done.

"They were given more time, the question is whether they should be given more money," Wiederschall said.

In addition, a dispute is brewing over the amount of liquidated damages or late penalties, allegedly owed by the contractor.

"It’s ashamed we can’t sit down and work through it," Wiederschall said. "These are public school funds."

Mediator Paul Fisher suggested LVUSD and its contractor meet at school district headquarters in Calabasas for additional talks, but Forest representatives said they preferred to meet on "neutral" ground.

"The inference is that the district has somehow walked away from the mediation process. That is not true at all," Wiederschall said.

The White Oak project was just one of many contracts awarded shortly after the passage of the 1997 Measure R school bond.

In a related case, Forest became embroiled in a lawsuit with Los Angeles Unified School District over a renovation project at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys. Forest also battled LAUSD over two elementary school projects, Queen said.

Although it’s had difficulties with LAUSD and LVUSD, the company said it maintains a good working relationship with Oxnard Union High School District in Oxnard.