- November 23, 2024
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Palm Coast's lawsuit against the contractors who built the cracked and peeling splash pad at James F. Holland Park could go to trial in September 2024.
Trevor Arnold, an attorney with the GrayRobinson law firm, is the lead attorney on Palm Coast’s suit against twelve different companies involved in the construction of the splash pad. The city is planning $3 million in repairs to the splash pad and expects to finish the work by next July.
“I know that, of course, there's no guarantees … but we do anticipate recovering the costs that are going to be incurred,” Arnold said. “I think it's really going to be more a question of who amongst the defense has responsibility, and how that responsibility gets apportioned.”
When the city filed suit in November 2022, Arnold said, there were only four defendants listed: designers S&ME, builders BBI Construction Management, Westfield Insurance Company and subcontractor No Fault, LLC.
The eight other companies were added to the suit later. The other eight defendants are third parties or subcontractors the original four companies worked with on the splash pad, Arnold said.
There is now a tentative September 2024 trial date, he said, if the judge does not approve the defendants’ request for a further delay.
The splash pad had opened in May 2021 but closed that October because the “poured-in-place,” or PIP, surface material cracked and peeled, becoming a trip hazard.
Arnold said the city’s legal team had previously asked for a hearing date earlier in 2024, and the defendants asked that it be no earlier than September. The judge signed off on September 2024 for trial.
At a status conference with the case judge in June, some of the new parties said the September 2024 time frame was too tight for them. Arnold said there will be another status conference on Nov. 2, and the judge will clarify the schedule.
“We want to keep things on schedule, we want to keep things moving,” Arnold said.
The City Council’s recent approval of a $3 million contract with Saboungi Construction to repair the splash pad could help the city's case, Arnold said.
“Now there's no speculation about the cost incurred and what the city will be doing with the park,” he said.
“I feel confident about the claims,” he added.
Phase 1 of the Holland Park improvements cost just under $5 million, while Phase 2 cost just under $6.3 million, according to data from the city. Some of the splash pad’s infrastructure was constructed in Phase 1, while the pad itself was built in Phase 2.
Brittany Kershaw, Palm Coast’s communication and marketing director, said there was no way to tell how much of the Holland Park project costs went directly to the splash pad work versus the park’s other improvements.
So far, the city has spent $108,991.59 in legal fees, once all of the invoices for the fiscal year 2023 budget are paid, Kershaw said. That includes legal fees for an outside attorney for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, plus fees for the city attorney's work on the splash pad case in fiscal years 2022 and 2021.
Not including the initial construction costs of the splash pad — since those cannot be separated out from the park improvement project’s overall costs — the city has spent $3,312,416.72 on legal fees, the recently awarded repair project, engineering assessments and other, smaller associated costs.
Arnold said he anticipates another attempt at mediation before the trial.
