The Brookeville, Md., landscaper alleged that Arlington dedicated 4 breaches of contract by severely underestimating the required portions of soil, concrete and excavation and failing to account for visitors administration wanted to hold out the renovations.
“It is a demand for fee for further work carried out due to faulty building paperwork, together with specs and drawings offered by the county,” stated Laurence Schor, an legal professional representing the contractor. “The county had sole accountability for the design and omitted or was unsuitable in what they offered to the contractor.”
Ryan Hudson, a spokesman for Arlington County, stated in an e mail that he couldn’t touch upon any pending litigation.
McDonnell Landscaping had beforehand turned down a proposal from Arlington to settle the matter for $272,000.
In accordance with Arlington’s dispute-resolution language for contractors, the corporate appealed to the County Board in July. However lawmakers voted unanimously in closed session to reject the contractor’s claims.
Schor, the contractor’s lawyer, stated the “no” vote was “like being dragged by the mud,” he stated.
“It makes me all of the extra shocked: After they have a contractor who they preserve after cautious choice, they don’t pay them for work they know is carried out,” he added. “We’re displaying true coronary heart and civic curiosity, and it’s time for the county to pay up.”
In a March letter included in courtroom filings, county officers stated {that a} challenge officer for the park renovations stated the deal was a lump-sum contract, not a unit-price contract, because the landscaper had been insisting.
Deputy County Supervisor Shannon Flanagan-Watson added that the landscaper had missed “quite a few alternatives” to ask for clarification on visitors upkeep and didn’t notify of further contract time in a well timed vogue.
She provided to settle the dispute for $272,600 and waive damages accrued when the contractor didn’t end the renovations on schedule.
Arlington lawmakers had three years in the past awarded a contract of as much as $2.6 million to the landscaping agency. McDonnell Panorama submitted the bottom bid amongst 5 bidders that was “attentive to pricing necessities,” county officers wrote on the time.
