Woolford Kanfer Law recently won an arbitration award in favor of a subcontractor client against a general contractor pertaining to two public school projects in Virginia.  The subcontractor, a fabricator and installer of modular buildings, was hired by a Michigan-based general contractor, to provide modular building additions at two public schools in Virginia.  At the conclusion of the project, the general contractor withheld payments from our client, alleging that it failed to deliver the modular building components on time. It also argued that when the buildings were delivered, they were not as complete as the GC expected them to be, requiring the GC to install more finishes on site than expected.  The GC also claimed there were deficiencies that had to be corrected and it sought to back-charge the subcontractor for the costs to do so.

The two subcontracts in question required disputes to be arbitrated in Michigan pursuant to the American Arbitration Association rules.  Arbitration was held in 2017 and the arbitrator ruled that our client was not responsible for delays, the modular buildings were not deficient, and that, to the extent there was work that had to be installed at the site rather than at the subcontractor’s off-site, production facility, it was caused by the GC’s delays.  The arbitrator ordered the GC to pay our client the amounts it had withheld, plus attorneys’ fees and the costs of the arbitration. The GC paid our client the amount awarded shortly after issuance of the arbitration award.