Joe Barra Quoted in Weston Town Crier

The article "School Construction Lawsuit May be Nearing an End" in the October 2 issue of the Weston Town Crier notes "Despite the fact that dedication ceremonies for Weston’s Country and Woodland elementary schools took place in the fall of 2004, the litigation involving the town, the contractor, the bond company and the architect has continued, though schools officials hope to see a silver lining soon.  Last week the School Committee signed a settlement agreement between the town, Hartford Fire Insurance bond company, and the architect Design Partnership of Cambridge. The general contractor for the project, Alexandra Construction, is the only party that has not signed on to the agreement.  According to the Weston Public Schools’ attorney Joe Barra of Seyfarth Shaw, the agreement would allow the Weston Public Schools to hold on to just over $1 million originally owed to Alexandra to make up for the school district’s troubles during the projects.  In July 2004, the town fired Alexandra Construction from the job for default of work, and was subsequently sued by Alexandra."During construction, the contractor did very poor work and didn’t finish within the timeframe. The town had little choice but to terminate the contractor," said Barra.

"At the time the town terminated the contract with Alexandra, it had just over $1 million of Alexandra’s money, which is a good position to be in."  According to Barra, Hartford Insurance planned to submit a request to the judge earlier this week that it has the right to settle the dispute on behalf of Alexandra, allowing the town to keep the $1 million.  If Alexandra continues to resist, it will have two weeks to file its opposition, according to Barra, at which point the judge will take all the arguments into consideration and render a decision.  Barra believes the settlement agreement would be a nice resolution for the town.  "It’s a good deal," Barra said. "They’ve really done well here."