Guilford County Schools isn’t ruling out the possibility of a lawsuit against Lyon Construction over the mold problem at Oak Ridge Elementary School.
If GCS files a lawsuit, this would be the third time the school system and Lyon have locked legal horns, as two parties have gone at it in court over renovations at Dudley High School and Eastern Middle School:
Lyon sued Guilford schools first, in November 2005, contending the district owed it $706,000 for additional work on Dudley’s $13.8 million renovation and expansion.
The extra work was required, Lyon said, partly because the school system had not properly prepared Dudley for construction. Among other things, the district did not make sure the original building’s floors were stable and failed to completely “remediate” all asbestos contamination, the contractor claimed.
Guilford ended up paying Lyon $425,000 of the disputed amount after court-ordered mediation in late 2006.
About that same time, Guilford filed a lawsuit against Lyon for work at Eastern Middle School, where the roof buckled under the weight of a snowstorm in February 2000.The district said it hired Lyon to repair the roof at a cost of $375,000, but the contractor cut corners on some of the steel work, welding and drywall framing.
Lyon contended all the work “was performed in accordance with industry standards” and in line with architectural plans.Like the Dudley lawsuit, the Eastern case ended in court-ordered mediation. Guilford won back $37,500 of its money in the subsequent settlement.
Looking at the fed findings on Oak Ridge, it’s difficult (for a layperson) to tell if problems with the HVAC system are a construction or a maintenance issue.
