|
Article
Courtesy of The Palm Beach Post
By
Jane Musgrave
Published
March 22, 2006
The construction company that has been blamed for the
sky-high costs of repairing the hurricane-ravaged Tiara condominium has fired
back, filing a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the Riviera Beach high-rise.
In a suit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court,
Southern Construction demands roughly $23 million it says it is owed. It also
wants a judge to order the condominium board to release millions of dollars of
equipment it has held since the construction company pulled out of the job Feb.
14 because it hadn't been paid.
John Telepman, who is representing the West Palm Beach
firm, said it's unfair his client has become a whipping boy for the condo board.
"He didn't call the hurricanes up and say attack that
building — one, two, three," he said Tuesday, referring to hits the
42-story oceanfront tower took from hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004 and
Hurricane Wilma in the fall.
"All that my client did was continue working even
though he wasn't getting paid and carrying the association to the tune of
millions of dollars," Telepman said of the firm, which Domingo Castro
heads.
Ali Kas, who became president of the condominium board
shortly after suing the old board and Southern Construction for squandering
money, said Southern has been paid more than $60 million.
"He's billed us over $80 million and we have nothing
but an empty shell," Kas said.
He said he would be willing to return Southern's
equipment, including $1.8 million of scaffolding known as mast climbers, and
trailers, trash bins, an ice machine and Port-O-Lets, but he isn't convinced all
of it belongs to the company.
He believes Southern charged the Tiara so much to rent
equipment it owns that it belongs to the 320 condo residents. Other companies
own some of the companies, as Southern acknowledges.
This month, the condo board won a $48.2 million settlement
from the state-subsidized Citizens Property Insurance Corp. It had received
$40.5 million from the homeowners insurer of last resort.
With some estimating it will cost $120 million to return
the building to its former grandeur, Kas said the board is contemplating
lawsuits against others to recoup its still-staggering uninsured losses.
Although
he hopes to have glass doors installed to secure the building before the heart
of this year's hurricane season, building permits have become snarled. He said
he has a meeting with Riviera Beach officials today to resolve the problems.
|