County sues architectural firm over McCarran project

By Steve Green (contact)

Published Monday, July 6, 2009 | 12:13 p.m.

Updated Monday, July 6, 2009 | 6:16 p.m.

Clark County has sued a local architectural firm, claiming errors and omissions on its part led to delays in construction of a project at McCarran International Airport.

The county filed suit last week in Clark County District Court against Lendall Mains Architect LLC over problems with construction of the C Annex Security Checkpoint, which opened last year.

The annex includes additional security screening lanes for the C and D gates. It's part of a larger project that includes a pedestrian bridge linking the A, B and C concourses and new food and beverage outlets.

County records show the architectural firm received a $287,641 contract for the project in 2004 and that through 2008 it was expanded and changed, lifting the value of the design job to $2.349 million.

"Lendall Mains Architect so negligently and carelessly prepared the original plans and specifications that said plans and specifications contained errors and omissions," the county lawsuit alleges. "During the course of construction, these errors and omissions prevented contractors from completing construction according to the original plans upon which the contract price was based."

Lendall Mains, principal of the company, declined comment Monday on the specific allegations.

But Mains said the county has failed to pay his firm $100,000 for work on the airport job and that, along with nonpayment by other clients, is forcing him to shut down his architectural business.

"We're closed," said Mains, who said he's trying to line up a job elsewhere.

Because of the difficult economy, Mains and his wife earlier this year closed their independent book store Cheesecake and Crime in Henderson.

"We've lost our business, we've lost our house," he said.

The county's lawsuit was filed by attorney Michael Brimley of the firm Peel Brimley.

Attached to the lawsuit is a report by Benchmark Consulting Services, which listed problems with the airport project such as issues with an elevator's interface with a structural system, conflicting information in the plans regarding footings and the alleged failure by the architectural firm to identify a tunnel that was encountered during excavation for the construction.

Randall Walker, director of the county Department of Aviation, said Mains had previously done work for the airport with satisfactory results and that in this case some of the problems were attributed to a subcontractor to Mains -- a subcontractor whose work Mains was responsible for.

Walker said the problems contributed to delays in the project of about one year and resulted in about $3 million of corrective costs.

Normally, the county would negotiate or mediate such a claim against a contractor before resorting to litigation. But in this case the county was concerned the contractor would file for bankruptcy and felt it prudent to establish its claim in court, Walker said.

"There are always design errors in every contract," Walker said.

In the case of Mains, the county withheld the final $100,000 payment to recover some of its extra costs, he said.