District 95, firm settle lawsuit for $1.25 million

A Chicago firm will pay Lake Zurich Unit District 95 $1.25 million to end lawsuits over faulty construction at three schools, a newly released settlement agreement shows.

The document, acquired Friday by the Daily Herald under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, essentially absolves Bovis Lend Lease of fault, liability or wrongdoing in the cases, which concerned projects at Lake Zurich High School, Spencer Loomis Elementary and Middle School North.

The company also agreed to cooperate with district officials and attorneys in the school district’s remaining lawsuits against other companies that worked on the projects.

The school board approved the settlement with a 5-1 vote on Oct. 27. Officials did not publicly reveal the terms of the deal at the time, citing confidentiality.

With the terms now public, District 95 board member Doug Goldberg said he was “absolutely” happy with the deal.

“We felt we reached a settlement that allowed us to contain our ongoing legal expenses and to recover a significant amount of our expenses from this litigant,” said Goldberg, who was a member of the group that negotiated the deal.

An attorney for Bovis could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuits concerned problems discovered in 2007 and 2008 at the three schools. Loomis Elementary and Middle School North share the same campus in Hawthorn Woods, while the high school is off Church Street in Lake Zurich.

At Loomis School, problems with the roof and wall anchors were discovered and later repaired. Flaws in the stairwells and gymnasiums there and at the middle school also were discovered.

Additionally, officials discovered a portion of the middle school was built on unstable soil, which led to an area between the business education classrooms and music wing sinking.

At the high school, a field house retaining wall failed and the floors in the performing arts center and drama room were defective, officials said.

The necessary repairs cost the district about $4 million and prompted lawsuits against Bovis, Legat Architects of Waukegan, an Elmhurst engineering firm called Terra Group and the Illinois Masonry Corp. of Lake Zurich.

Under the settlement with Bovis, $1.15 million will go to offset the repair costs at Loomis and Middle School North. The remaining $100,000 will reimburse the district for the repairs at the high school.

“It doesn’t make us whole, but we’re happy to get a settlement,” said Superintendent Mike Egan, who also helped negotiate the settlement.

The district already had settled with Legat, leaving the Terra Group and Illinois Masonry as the remaining defendants in the case.

It’s not yet clear if settlements will be reached with those companies or if the case will go to trial, Egan said.