A surety is suing a Louisiana school board for $890,270 over an arts-center project on which the prime contractor defaulted.

Surety bonds are three-way agreements, and litigation between sureties and surety agreement obligees are not unheard of.

But in this case, Worcester, Mass.-based Hanover Insurance Co., which provided a $2.5-million bond to a prime contractor, is suing Jefferson Parish School Board in federal court in New Orleans for paying the project’s contractor $108,163 afterthe builder had effectively defaulted在项目上。

汉诺威还正在寻找744,841美元其他维修。

在路易斯安那州东区美国地方法院的一份文件中，杰斐逊教区学校董事会认为，汉诺威应为延误负责。

In a counterclaim, the board is seeking $218,597 in damages from Hanover, arguing the insurer “did not complete the work within the time allowed under the plans, specifications and building contract herein.” The board’s claim also includes attorneys’ fees and money paid to construction and architectural consultants.

“Any alleged deterioration, further deterioration, damage or further damage to the premises was the fault of someone other than the defendant over whom the defendant had no control or authority,” attorneys for the school board argue.

The litigation involves the New Arts Center at the Grace King High School, in Harvey, La., awarded to Catco General Contractors LLC in late 2010. Attempts to reach Catco were unsuccessful, but news reports from the company's base in Hahnville, La., indicate that the company's owner, Christopher Adams Twiner,tragically passed away at age 40 in July 2011。

Instructions Not To Pay

汉诺威认为后的第一个主要问题出现it warned Jefferson Parish School Board on Oct. 10, 2011, not to pay Catco, citing insurance claims filed on the project.

The school board acknowledged the request in a letter dated Oct. 26, but then went ahead and paid the contractor $108,163, Hanover contends, arguing it reduced the remaining contract funds that were collateral for the insurer.

Catco stopped work on the project on Nov. 18, but it took the school board another two months to officially place the project in default, according to a complaint filed in federal court by Hanover.

Three weeks later, the school board wrote an email to Catco’s attorney, noting that the contractor was no longer working on the project and that, with work on the roof unfinished, water “was ponding on the interior slab.”

12月16日，Catco回答说，它将无法完成这项工作，但是学校董事会直到一个月后，2012年1月17日，汉诺威的诉讼指出，校务委员会才默认情况下。

It then took the school board months to give permission to a contractor hired by Hanover to close the open roof of the unfinished project and make other repairs, the insurer contends.

Hanover asked the school board on Jan. 27 for permission to let J. Caldarera & Sons Co. go to work on the project and seal the arts center’s open roof.

CHanover’s attorney then raised the issue of rain and weather damage to the arts-center project, contacting the school board three times more between Feb. 4 and March 27 in the hope of getting permission for Caldarera to start work closing off the roof, the insurer claims in its court filings. On March 26, representatives of the insurance company gained access to the now dormant worksite, finding standing water and damage to the interior of the building.

Two days later, on March 28, the school board finally gave a green light to Hanover’s contractor to begin repair work.

同时，保险公司认为，汉诺威可以监督该项目的完成，获得了正式的“收购”协议，这被证明更加艰巨。

Hanover forwarded a first draft of the takeover agreement to the school board on Jan. 28, but it wasn’t signed by the school board until June 14.

然后，保险公司聘请了Caldarera完成该项目的工作，该项目仅在一年后的2013年9月完成。

法庭文件显示，作为汉诺威从杰斐逊教区寻求的890,270美元的损害赔偿的一部分，包括在工作中未能提供公用事业服务的$ 10,898和变更单的13,500美元。

学校董事会的观点

Lawyers for the school board, who declined to comment on the matter in an interview, present a much different version of what happened.

汉诺威坚持首先签订收购协议的结果是，该项目的任何维修延误都是不必要的。董事会辩称，它被迫通过《协议》的九种不同草案“在汉诺威可接受的最终版本之前”进行工作。

学校董事会律师写道：“仅被告的持久谈判和延误的指控显然是没有根据的。”“延迟（如果有的话）是汉诺威的错，因为他们在收购协议中屡屡要求进行更改和对他们进行的许多修订，汉诺威坚持要获得，这是不必要的，不需要的，也不需要在此处要求。”

The $744,841 Hanover is seeking for repair and other additional work on the project is “excessive, duplicative and unrelated to the remediation,” the school board’s lawyers contend. “Rather, these alleged damages actually are the costs of the completion of the original contract for which Hanover is obligated as surety for the completion of the Project.”