Ohio State University, Columbus, violated state statutes governing a $1-billion campus hospital project that required it to mandate a payment bond for site subcontractors, according to a lawsuit filed on Nov. 23 in the Ohio Supreme Court by the American Subcontractors Association and its local chapter. The trade group for sureties joined in the suit.
The complaint contends OSU’s decision not to require the project’s construction managers, Turner Construction and Bovis Lend Lease, to post the bond places the subs on the project, called ProjectONE, at financial risk, since they are required to waive their mechanic’s lien rights. “Construction subcontractors will provide hundreds of millions of dollars of credit on ProjectONE,” says Timmy McLaughlin, president of Alexandria, Va.-based ASA. “Public owners should support, not block, vital subcontractor payment protections that reduce financial uncertainty and the costs of construction.”