The Marshall County Health Department Board has been awarded $25,000 — in addition to court costs and legal fees — following a lawsuit against Cleaver Construction of Murray.
The decision to award damages came from a Marshall County jury after the two-day trial in circuit court April 23-24. Assistant Marshall County Attorney Jason Darnall commended Circuit Court Judge Jamie Jameson and the jury.
It helps bring closure to the suit, which began after the health department opened at its current location at 267 Slickback Road in Benton. Near the end of construction, it was discovered that the building did not meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. A new architect and contractor were hired to fix the mistakes, costing the county about $2.2 million.
“All the design experts, the engineer experts, everybody agreed it was the original architect that made the original design errors, so nobody could really point the finger at Cleaver Construction and say they did anything wrong,” Darnall said. “We were able to get some evidence that Cleaver was negligent in relying on some information from the architect. They went forward when they should have pulled back. They had some knowledge and went forward when there were some questions.”
The county initially brought suits against both the architect and contractor, but health concerns by Judge Jameson last year forced the trial to be moved to this year. Darnall said the county settled with the architects insurance company almost five years ago.