Dateline: September 2, 2004

CC files lawsuit over new residence hall

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Clarendon College filed suit in District Court last week against the contractor which oversaw construction of the school’s new residence hall.

According to the petition, CC claims that Reynosa Construction, Inc., of Amarillo performed faulty and defective work and “failed to construct the building specified in the contract in accordance with the plans, specifications, and contract documents.”

CC President Myles Shelton said Monday that problems have been evident with Regents Hall since the summer of 2003 and that Reynosa was supposed to have addressed those issues.

“The big problem is with the EIFS,” Shelton said. “Even though we were able to occupy the building, they (Reynosa) were never able to resolve that problem.”

EIFS is a multi-layered synthetic stucco-like material covering the trim and columns of Regents Hall.

“We’ve worked with them over the last year to no avail, and now we’ve had to take this action,” the president said.

In April of this year, Reynosa filed suit in District Court against the subcontractor who installed the EIFS, Synthetics “R” Us of Amarillo, and the manufacturer of the EIFS, Senergy, LLC, of Dallas. 

According to court documents in the clerk’s office, Reynosa and Senergy reached an agreement last month under which the manufacturer will have a technician inspect Regents Hall, make recommendations, inspect any repairs or replacement, and testify at a trial or hearing if necessary.

“This is a very expensive problem to correct,” Shelton said. “It needs to be corrected, and the college should not be responsible for it.”

At press time, Reynosa had not yet filed its response to the suit.