Still Another Louisville Arena Threat

Next thing you know they’ll be filing for an injunction to block arena construction. Just as it’s about to begin.

One sure way not to win friends and influence people in Louisville is to get in the way of the downtown basketball arena. But that’s exactly what one company is attempting to do in filing a lawsuit.

Richard and Tinker Chilton, father and son executives at Ram Engineering & Construction, have filed a lawsuit in Frankfort against the arena authority. They’ve been unhappy since Mortenson Company, the Minneapolis-based arena construction management firm, picked Veit Construction to do the work.

Actually, the Chiltons are suing almost everyone connected with the project, including Mortenson and Veit. Even the Finance Cabinet. The kicker?  The Chiltons don’t want to take a chance on a judge making the decision; they want a jury trial.

The Chiltons protested to state government that Ram had not been given an opportunity offer a bid similar to Veit’s proposal.  They lost, the Kentucky Finance & Administration Cabinet ruling that Mortsenson didn’t have to follow procurement laws on its subcontractors.

The last thing this project needs to be completed in 2010 is to be subjected to the state justice system. With the way the Kentucky court system works (even worse since the budget cuts), the issue probably would not even come to trial until 2011.

Not good.

Ram Engineering and the Chiltons need to move on. Accept the indignity of not being selected by the construction manager. Stay out of the way.