Source: http://insurancenewsnet.com, February 9, 2015
By: Randy Ellis
Representatives of contractors who did renovation work on Oklahoma State University’s football stadium agreed to pay $700,000 to settle a lawsuit over plumbing system failures that caused sewage stench to permeate the locker room four years ago.
The university’s insurers paid for the initial repairs. Money from the settlement is being used to reimburse those insurance companies, said Gary Shutt, spokesman for the university. The settlement was reached in December and the lawsuit was dismissed in January.
The settlement resolves a 2013 lawsuit in which OSU and its insurers sued Cowboy Athletics Inc. and other contractors involved in the renovations.
Although it seemed odd for the university to sue its own support organization, Cowboy Athletics Inc. was named as one of the defendants in the lawsuit because it served as general contractor on the renovation project. Cowboy Athletics Inc. is a nonprofit corporation formed to raise money to support OSU athletic organizations and educational programs.
Insurance companies representing various contractors are making the payments, Shutt said.
The biggest portion of the settlement, $400,000, is being paid by representatives of Crafton, Tull & Associates, which did the architectural, engineering and design work on the renovations.
Representatives of PVI Industries LLC, which manufactured the water heaters used in the renovations, agreed to pay $125,000 of the settlement.
Representatives of Cowboy Athletics Inc. and Cowboy Athletics Facilities LLC agreed to pay a combined $58,333.34.
Representatives of Flintco LLC and United Mechanical Inc. each agreed to contribute $58,333.33 to the settlement.
The agreement called for no admission of liability.
The Oklahoman obtained a copy of the settlement though a state Open Records Act request. Although the settlement contained a confidentiality clause, it contained an exemption for OSU so it could comply with terms of the act.
Discovery of failures
Multiple plumbing system failures forced the OSU football team to abandon the new facility for about five months in the spring of 2011 while contractors dug up concrete floors to fix the problems.
A break in a plastic drain pipe joint under the concrete floor in the west end of Boone Pickens Stadium was discovered in March 2011, about a year after west end renovations were completed, according to the lawsuit. Upon closer inspection, OSU officials discovered about 15 separate breaks in the piping system and a blockage caused by gravel in the pipe.
The university blamed the breaks on flaws in the design, manufacture and installation of equipment that allowed hot water to be discharged directly into a piping system that wasn’t properly equipped to handle the resulting expansion and contraction.