SUNBURY - A Northumberland County judge tossed a city contractor's claim last week that the City of Shamokin breached a contract to demolish a partially collapsed building last summer in the 700 block of North Shamokin Street.
Judge Charles Saylor found that no "valid 'agreement'" existed between City Hall and Robert Gusick Demolition.
"The mayor or chief clerk of a third class city does not have the authority, even if considered an 'emergency,' to enter into an agreement for demolition work at a fixed sum on a non-competitive basis and without the approval of city council," Saylor wrote in his ruling issued Wednesday.
Although Saylor sided with the city's petition to dismiss the breach of contract claim, the judge said Gusick could seek compensation through two other claims in his filing, unjust enrichment and quasi-contract. He will need to "set forth the specific items and amounts related to each item" that comprise his claims, the judge wrote.
An amended complaint must be filed within 20 days.
H. Robert Mattis, the city's solicitor, said Monday that "we're happy to see that the judge granted our prelim objection. We await the amended complaint ... (and) the city will respond accordingly."
He would not comment on the possibility of an out-of-court settlement.
Gusick is represented by Sunbury attorney Joel Wiest. He could not be reached for comment.
Verbal agreement
Gusick's firm was brought in under emergency order by way of verbal agreement after a portion of the former Shamokin Health Spa, 709-715 N. Shamokin St., collapsed into the street on June 15, 2012. The contractor knocked down the building and disposed of debris.
Work was ordered stopped by City Hall shortly afterward over dispute of project scope. The city says he was only to knock a portion of the building down; the contractor said he did as he was told and did so under watch of some city officials, estimating he completed 75 percent of the work.
He submitted a written estimate for $98,500. It included no detail of costs. The city asked for but did not receive a more detailed invoice, saying it was necessary if it were to seek approval to utilize state grant funding to pay for the project.
At loggerheads, Gusick filed suit in October seeking payment in full, interest and attorney fees.
The project was completed by Madonna Enterprises, Port Carbon, with the assistance of Forrester Environmental Inc., Bloomsburg, after suspected asbestos was found on site. Neither contractor had been paid as of mid-May because the city was awaiting approval to use Community Development Block Grant funding to pay their invoices and two others related to the project.
