Construction Manager, Airline Duke It Out In New Jersey Suit
The bulk of a $1.4-billion terminal project at Newark International Airport is done, but a dispute over related payments is heating up. Continental Airlines filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Newark against J.A. Jones Construction Group LLC on March 6, two days after the contractor resigned from its role as construction manager for the airline's Global Gateway project at Newark Airport. J.A. Jones had been the CM since 1999.
In a statement, Continental says it is "seeking the immediate return of...construction records, checks to trade contractors, documents and other data that J.A. Jones Construction removed." Continental claims that J.A. Jones "surreptitiously removed the documents, and is holding Continental's records hostage' in exchange for immediate payment of additional disputed invoices." The airline is also seeking damages for "wrongful termination and abandonment."