County caught up in lawsuit against LP
By Barry H. Hendrix Managing Editor

RWS Construction, Inc. of North Carolina filed suit June 8 in Clarke County Circuit Court against Louisiana Pacific Corporation (LP) and Clarke County.

RWS entered into a construction agreement with LP on May 26, 2006 "for the design, fabrication, supply and erection of Pre- Engineered Metal Buildings and Associated Work," the lawsuit read. RWS provided "certain labor, materials, work and services to construct portions of an Oriented Strand Board Plant in Thomasville.

RWS claims that LP has failed to pay them in excess of $1 million for labor, materials, work, service and additional costs and expenses incurred during the construction of the plant.

RWS recorded "a Verified Statement of Lien" to the Thomasville plant on May 11, 2007 to secure the money owed to RWS.

In addition, the suit claims that "LP improperly arranged for Clarke County to retain title of the property until construction of the OSB plant is completed. Clarke County may be "the record owner of the property," but the suit claims that LP is "the de facto or equitable owner of the property."

The suit also claims that Clarke County is "liable to RWS for failing to properly secure proper bonding requirements."

Jackson resident Sol Stewart sought information from the County Commission Tuesday regarding the LP situation.

"The project agreement calls for the county to convey the property to LP upon substantial completion of their facility," County Attorney Bruce Wilson told Stewart. "The county had to maintain title for various grant requirements. The county has already approved the transfer to LP. We are basically waiting on LP to finalize things and accept the transfer.

"Legal title is still in Clarke County under an agreement to convey it. We have the obligation to convey to LP, under the project agreement."

After those statements, Wilson said he would not further comment Tuesday on the lawsuit. The county was served with the lawsuit on June 14, he said.

"A number of contractors and sub-contractors will suffer damage due to the failure of the Clarke County Commission to secure the proper bond construction of this OSB plant," Stewart said. He asked Commission Chairman Joe Hunt what he planned to do about the problem.

Hunt referred the matter to Attorney Wilson.

Stewart also claimed there were other lawsuits being filed regarding the matter.

"The county has no contracts with any contractors out there," Wilson said later in the commission meeting. "The only reason they [the county] was brought into this lawsuit is because of the property issue."

A public relations spokeswoman for LP said when the lien was first filed that the dispute with RWS was about its job and work performance at the Clarke County site. A new contractor was hired to replace RWS, she said then but said she could not elaborate further on the matter because of the litigation.

Stewart also questioned the new courthouse annex, asking about cost overruns and questioning the qualifications of Tank Wilson, a county employee who was appointed to be the county's overseer for the project and to work with the contractor.

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