Governors Island Trust sues Turner, subcontractor for $5M over shoddy work claims

Dive Brief:

The trust for New York City's Governors Island has filed a lawsuit in the amount of $5 million plus legal fees against Turner Construction and one of its subcontractors for what the trust alleges to be shoddy work, according to DNAinfo.
In its suit, the trust claims that subcontractor Ocean Coastal Consultants (OCC) Engineering's work contained bridge, ferry and seawall design flaws that cost the trust hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair. The suit seeks at least $2.4 million each from Turner and OCC in addition to the legal fees.
Turner Construction has maintained a contract with the city since 2009 to oversee various projects on the 172-acre Governors Island, including the task of choosing subcontractors.

Dive Insight:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning some kind of Governors Island mixed-use development, which will be built on a 900,000-square-foot parcel. The details of the project are still unknown, but the possibilities range from a school to a tech hub, according to The Real Deal.

On another New York City project, the owner of a Frank Gehry-designed skyscraper sued a subcontractor after the window sealant it installed began dripping off the building's façade. The lawsuit claimed that the company had ignored requests to execute the $500,000 repair job. Residents of a nearby city residential tower filed a $20 million lawsuit last year as well, claiming that construction defects and design flaws allowed wind and water to enter the building through the windows, causing pipes to freeze and burst.

Design flaws and construction defects can cause owners time and money, especially when they have to file a lawsuit to recover damages or force a contractor to fix the work.

Before taking the matter to court, however, parties to a construction contract typically try to work out whatever problems they have through mediation or some other out-of-court resolution process. In fact, in many contracts, the contractor, subcontractor and owner are required to try to work out their differences in some alternative forum before filing suit.