Arbitration denied in rec center lawsuit

A Westmoreland County judge has denied a Pittsburgh architectural firm's request to force Hempfield Township into arbitration to resolve $450,000 in disputed fees.

Late yesterday, Judge Daniel J. Ackerman denied L.D. Astorino & Associates' request for a preliminary injunction forcing arbitration, said Hempfield Solicitor Darrell Arbore.

However, Ackerman left the door open for LDA to refile.

'He denied it without prejudice, which gives them leave of court to refile,' Arbore said. 'We're not out of the woods yet.'

In the civil action filed late Friday, LDA accused the township of breach of contract for failure to pay the fees and refusal to submit to arbitration to resolve the matter. LDA contends its contract with the township for design work on a proposed multimillion-dollar recreation center requires both sides to enter into arbitration when they cannot resolve a dispute on their own.

Estimated to cost $17 million, the center is to be located on a 13-acre site off Route 136 near the high school. Astorino Pellis Architects of Greensburg, an LDA company, began design work in September. The firm was told to stop temporarily in April when supervisors questioned the scope of the project and the architect's $1.2 million fee.

Attorney Joseph L. Pellis II of Astorino Pellis said that with 65 percent of the design work completed, his firm was owed approximately $780,000. With the township having already paid LDA $316,242, Pellis said approximately $450,000 remains outstanding.

In court documents filed yesterday, Arbore contends the township never awarded LDA a contract for the design work. Rather, he argues that LDA wrongfully assumed rights to the project by taking over a contract that supervisors had awarded in 1998 for $40,000 to another architectural firm, Reid & Stuhldreher of Pittsburgh.

'Without the prior approval of the board, LDA, in an attempt to assume the approval previously given to Reid & Stuhldreher, backdated the agreement to Aug. 10, 1998 ... and obtained the signature of Supervisor (Paul) Reed, with full knowledge the board had not authorized any contract with LDA,' Arbore stated in the response.

Reed, who was board secretary-treasurer at the time, declined comment yesterday because the matter is in litigation.