Councillors push for reviews of bungled lawsuit

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/10/2017 (2984 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two members of Mayor Brian Bowman’s inner circle are pushing for reviews of the bungled lawsuit involving construction problems at the city’s Deacon Reservoir water treatment plant.

Coun. Scott Gillingham, chairman of council’s finance committee, said Monday he wants city hall to hire an outside legal firm to see if there’s any way to recover part of the estimated $6-million- to $20-million in needed repairs to the water treatment plant.

Coun. John Orlikow, chairman of council’s property and development committee, said he wants an audit done on how the administration handled the lawsuit.

City officials confirmed last week that a lawsuit it had filed in December 2015 against 10 prominent firms involved in the construction of the $300-million water treatment plant had been dismissed when the court concluded the city failed to file the suit within a six-year time frame allowed for legal action.

CAO Doug McNeil blamed a lawyer within the city’s own legal department for missing the deadline and said that individual is no longer employed with the city.

The $300-million water treatment plant was described as the most technologically advanced facility of its kind when it went into production in 2009. But by the summer of 2012, the roof was leaking badly, equipment had blown up and parts of the facility had to be shut. Despite all the problems, the administration had failed to inform council or any committee about the issues at the plant.

Named in the lawsuit were AECOM Canada, AECOM Projects, Bird Construction, Hugh Munro Construction, PCL Contractors Canada, Oakwood Roofing and Sheet Metal Co., Metcon Sales and Engineering, Severn Trent Water Purification Inc., Toromount Industries, and 923451 Ontario Ltd.

This was the second lawsuit the city had filed against AECOM that had been thrown out by the court because the documents had been mishandled by a member of the city’s legal department. AECOM was named by the city in a 2013 legal action after significant structural problems emerged following a $47-million upgrade to the West End sewage treatment plant. That legal action was dismissed in November 2015 when the court concluded the city bungled the statement of claim by failing to submit key documents, including the contract with AECOM and had failed to allege how the contract was breached or what AECOM’s contractual obligations had been to the city.

Gillingham said he doesn’t have confidence in the city’s legal department to advise council.

“I have concerns with the way this matter has been handled,” Gillingham (St. James-Brooklands-Weston) said. “The fact my motion calls for external legal advice to be sought indicates where I’m at right now with my confidence,” in the city’s legal department.

Gillingham’s motion will be discussed at the Oct. 10 meeting of the executive policy committee, which will also consider Orlikow’s proposal for the city auditor to review how the lawsuit was handled and to make recommendations to prevent a repeat.

EPC will also be considering a separate motion from Couns. Russ Wyatt and Janice Lukes, who want a detailed accounting from the administration on how the lawsuit was handled.

Gillingham said he wants an outside legal firm to advise council if city hall can go after the dismissed lawyer through the Law Society of Manitoba or through any other avenue.

“I believe we need to make every effort possible to recoup some of the taxpayers’ money,” Gillingham said, adding he doesn’t have confidence in any advice the city’s own legal department might provide on the issue.

Gillingham said he also wants the city to review its policy to self-insure rather than incur the expense of professional liability insurance.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca