CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield Area School District Board of Directors unanimously approved the settlement of the Girard-Goshen Elementary School roof litigation with the two remaining defendants during a special meeting for legal purposes Tuesday night.
Girard-Goshen was constructed in 2002. However, it was temporarily closed by the district in 2010 due to structural issues with its roof, and faculty and students were relocated to the Clearfield Elementary School. Girard-Goshen was permanently closed by the district in 2012, according to previous GANT reports.
The district filed suits against the numerous contractors involved with the construction of the former elementary school. It had reached settlements with all of the contractors, except for Mid-State Construction (general contractor) and URS Corp. (construction management). URS Corp. had also filed a countersuit against the district to seek the cost for its attorney fees.
The district recently reached settlements with both Mid-State and URS in the amount of $115,000 together. It will also come with the release of any and all claims, cross-claims and the URS counterclaim against the district, Superintendent Terry Struble said.
The district’s counsel, according to Struble, had a very strong opinion that if the litigation resulted in a substantial reward, at least one defendant would definitely appeal and prolong the litigation. One defendant’s insurance was only willing to pay to a certain point and had plans to file for separation if the amount was larger than that, he said.
“[Counsel] put out a settlement to basically say ‘where can we be that drops and everything wraps it up,’” Struble said. He said that the district’s solicitor, Andrews & Beard, and special counsel, Jaime Doherty of Goehring, Rutter & Boehm of Pittsburgh had recommended accepting the settlement offer with Mid-State and URS.
The board’s approval of the Girard-Goshen settlement is contingent upon its review by the solicitor and special counsel. The board will still have to approve and sign off on the final release upon its completion, explained Struble.
After board approval, vice president Mary Anne Jackson asked Business Administrator Sam Maney if he was able to provide a balance sheet with figures regarding the Girard-Goshen matter. He said the district received $957,500, but its costs totaled $721,924.19 for a net of $235,575.81.
“That’s where the concern was,” Struble said. “You can continue to spend another $100,000-plus but if you don’t gain that through the results of the trial, you are actually going to go backwards in the process.” Board members made utterances that: “We already went backwards.”