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Girard company and Menards haggle over costs associated with Bazetta demolition project
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Attorneys for Menards Inc. have asked a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court magistrate to order Girard demolition company DiPaolo Industrial Development to pay $294,201 in damages to Menards, while an attorney for DiPaolo argues Menards is not entitled to anything.
DiPaolo attorney Michael Partlow said in a recent filing his client “reserves the right to object” to the May ruling by Magistrate Jami Bishop that said DiPaolo breached its contract with Menards and must pay the amount needed to complete DiPaolo’s work. The magistrate said DiPaolo breached the contract by failing to complete demolition of the former Walmart store on Elm Road in Bazetta Township. A Menards store was later built on the site.
The ruling means DiPaolo Industrial, owned by Sergio DiPaolo of Girard, is not entitled to any of the money it sought from Menards, but Menards is entitled money from DiPaolo. The magistrate said DiPaolo owes Menards $137,405 for the money Menards paid McConnell Excavating to complete DiPaolo’s work. The ruling was part of a 2015 lawsuit Menards filed.
DiPaolo’s demolition work for Menards was supposed to be complete by Dec. 27, 2013, and “crushing” of the demolition materials was supposed to be complete by Jan. 31, 2014, the magistrate’s decision says. By March 12, 2014, Menards had issued two letters to DiPaolo expressing “concerns [Menards] was having with [DiPaolo’s] work,” the ruling says.
Menards sent more letters and threatened legal action by May 29, 2014, when Menards gave DiPaolo a “final notice breach of contract/abandonment of property” letter indicating that DiPaolo had failed to fulfill its obligations under the contract.
In a Menards filing, the company said DiPaolo owes Menards $151,145 for the cost of cleaning up debris DiPaolo left behind and other amounts. Menards calcuates the reimbursable amount of its legal fees to be $180,022.
Partlow argued in the DiPaolo filing that almost $90,000 of the funds requested for McConnell’s work “did not fall within [DiPaolo’s] responsibilities.”
Partlow said Menards also did not show how it arrived at the figure of 5,640 tons of on-site demolition materials that had to be crushed. Menards seeks reimbursement of $49,632 for crushing and removal of demolition material, the filing says.