Expert Witness Blog
Ohio Licking County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Marcelain ordered C-TEC to pay $3.8 million in damages for uncompensated work to a Newark company in favor of Claggett & Sons Inc. Marcelain also ordered both sides back into court to address punitive damages and attorney fees, costs that could push the cash-strapped Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County’s bill much higher. Claggett attorneys also intend to seek interest for the company’s damages accrued since 2006. “None of the defendant’s architecture expert witnesses realized this was the method in which the building was constructed,” Marcelain wrote.
“The architect took advantage of the lack of knowledge of C-TEC in construction methods,” Marcelain wrote as he described problems such as ventilation pipes designed to go through a steel beam near the roof. The judge wrote that C-TEC’s witnesses, especially its architects, were not credible and that Claggett demonstrated construction delays were not its fault. He also noted board members were not aware the project was 90 percent complete and school largely occupied when they voted to fire Claggett.
For more, see newarkadvocate.com.