Council to Address 2 Pending Lawsuits Against City

Members of the Fountain Valley City Council will meet Tuesday afternoon with City Attorney Alan Burns to discuss the status of two pending lawsuits against the city that are scheduled to go to trial in the fall.

Both suits were filed in 2010. The first was filed by Environmental Assessment and Remediation, which is seeking nearly $1.2 million in damages for breach of contract stemming from a well rehabilitation project in April of 2008. EAR alleges that the city sought to gain financially by delaying completion of the project and then charging the company liquidated damages of $1,300 per day for failing to complete the project on time.

The suit contends city officials gave EAR flawed project plans and then demanded that the company complete work outside the scope of the contract to correct the flaws. Additionally, EAR alleges that the city refused to provide the company with extensions or inspections. The case is set to go to trial Sept. 19, with a mandatory pretrial settlement conference scheduled for Sept. 9.

The second suit, filed by Far West Industries, alleges similar actions by city officials. The company was contracted in August 2007 to develop the Nieblas School Subdivision and contends it was forced by the city to commission and pay for unnecessary engineering plans and that city officials again refused to conduct proper inspections of the process. Far West is also suing for violation of its due process rights, stemming from its contention that the city demanded changes to various aspects of the projects after it had already been approved. A jury trial in the case is scheduled to begin Oct. 21.