Turner Claims USC Owes $12 Million For New Engineering Building
The school of engineering at the campus of the University of Southern California, where a new building is the subject of a pay dispute.
Turner Construction is suing the University of Southern California for breach of contract, accusing the school of failing to pay $12 million owed for work on a new $130-million school of engineering building completed in late 2024 at its Los Angeles campus.
Turner worked on the seven-story, 116,000-sq-ft computer science building under a cost-plus guaranteed- maximum-price contract. But after incomplete designs and numerous change orders, USC failed to pay Turner and numerous subcontractors for all the work performed.
"For many of these trade contractors," Turner wrote in its complaint in state court in Los Angeles, "this project represents the majority of their business at the time the work was performed. The trade contractors—many of which are small business enterprises—are experiencing significant hardship after going without payment for this long."
A USC news outlet said the building, known as Ginsburg Hall, originally had been estimated to cost $90 million.
Tim Cowell, the Viterbi School of Engineering's director of space planning and design, said “No expense was spared” in the planning and construction process for the building, according to the USC news website,
A reply to the complaint, originally filed in November, has not yet been filed by USC. In a statement provided to the student newspaper, the Daily Trojan, the university said it was "aware of the lawsuit" and was still reviewing it.
Looking for quick answers on construction and engineering topics?
Try Ask ENR, our new smart AI search tool.
Ask ENR →
