Remember the bad smell in College Township? UAJA wins lawsuit over odor facility
The University Area Joint Authority emerged victorious Wednesday from a lawsuit brought by the contractor of a nearly $8.4 million facility that fell almost a year behind schedule and led to stomach-churning odors and resident complaints.
Centre County President Judge Jonathan Grine found Global Heavy Corp.’s lawsuit against the University Area Joint Authority was legally deficient. He did not even send the case to a jury at the end of the three-day trial.
Attorney Jeff Stover, who was neither connected to the case nor spoke about the specific lawsuit, said a minority of cases end with a decision like the one Grine made.
“They didn’t get to first base,” Stover said Thursday. “Three outs, inning over.”
The contractor sought more than $1.9 million from UAJA because of an alleged breach of the contact, but Grine found the business offered no proof of its claims.
The lawsuit hung over UAJA since it was filed in fall 2020. Executive Director Cory Miller said Grine’s ruling was “certainly a relief.” He was unable to immediately share how much the authority paid in legal costs.
“Nobody can ever repay anybody that had to endure the smell,” Miller said Thursday. “But at least we have this.”
Global Heavy plans to appeal Grine’s decision to the state Commonwealth Court, attorney Richard W. Saxe Jr. wrote Thursday in an email to the Centre Daily Times.
In a statement, UAJA wrote it could have settled the case but “did not feel it was right to do so under the circumstances.”
“We are happy that our position has been vindicated in a court of law, not for ourselves but for the many customers and community members who suffered as a result,” the authority wrote. “We take our role as stewards of the community’s resources seriously, and we are happy to bring this chapter to an end.”
The agreement that was signed in September 2018 called for Global Heavy to replace UAJA’s prior odor control facility — which keeps wastewater treatment odors at bay — with a new one. The work was to be completed by July 2019.
It wasn’t.
The project was completed in June 2020, leaving the air in College Township to smell like wastewater for nearly a year beyond the contact deadline.
Hundreds of College Township residents and passersby lodged complaints with the authority, including a grandfather who described the smell as “disgusting” and said his grandchildren were forced to leave his house early because of the foul smell.
The contractor said the delays were the result of everything from design deficiencies and unforeseen issues to the coronavirus pandemic and problems with a subcontractor.
UAJA, however, said in a court filing that Global Heavy was “utterly incapable” of managing the project in a timely manner. Attorney David S. Gaines Jr. wrote the contractor’s timeline was “nothing short of an abject failure.”
In response, UAJA used a clause in the contract to withhold $1,300 each day the projected continued beyond the deadline. It amounted to more than $400,000.
The contractor’s lawsuit, Gaines wrote in a filing, was an “unsupportable attempt to claw back” money UAJA withheld. The authority put the money aside while the lawsuit moved forward, Miller said.
While an appeal could change the authority’s plans, Miller said it plans to use the money to improve its sewer system.
The authority may be able to put one lawsuit behind it, but another is still moving forward. Its lawsuit against State College over sewage treatment billing rates is slated for trial in the fall.
UAJA alleged the borough has failed to make full payments for the services it uses and owes more than $400,000. The borough in turn accused the authority of overcharging millions of dollars and improperly imposing new rates.