ENGINEERS AND 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
February
10, 2015
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.