Company sues Arlington school district over unpaid $1.2M winter storm cleanup bill
A Dalworthington Gardens-based construction company owner said the Arlington school district did not pay “a penny” for emergency repairs to Sam Houston High School following Winter Storm Uri.
The Arlington school district owes Robert Jordan Construction over $1.2 million after the company dried and dehumidified 450,000 square feet of Sam Houston after the school suffered “widespread flooding,” according to a complaint filed June 28 in Tarrant County District Court. H. Dustin Fillmore III, Charles Fillmore and Michael Hammond are listed as the company’s attorneys.
The company renewed its frustrations in a video published Sept. 12 that was viewed over 19,000 times on YouTube as of noon Tuesday.
“My company has not been paid one penny for the work we performed at Sam Houston,” owner Robert Jordan can be heard saying in the seven-minute video.
Employees with RJ Construction negotiated the scope and cost for the repairs with William Kelly Horn, assistant superintendent of facility service, and Corey Robinson, environmental safety coordinator, over email, according to court documents. Arlington school district personnel also granted the company access to Sam Houston for repairs, which they made between Feb. 25 and March 1, the lawsuit says.
“AISD, Horn, and Robinson sat by and watched RJ Construction dry and dehumidify Sam Houston High,” the lawsuit says.
However, district officials say they did not enter a written contract with the company, and attorneys have not shown the court that a contract exists. The district’s attorneys also argued the district has governmental immunity from the lawsuit.
“Instead, what plaintiff attaches are a series of out-of-context emails, that — at most — reflect the parties back-and-forth negotiation of a potential agreement,” the defense argued in a court document. Attorneys representing the school district, Robinson and Horn include Dennis Eichelbaum, Scott Thomas and Eric Munoz.
Arlington school board members also approved a measure allowing the district to negotiate a contract at a March 11 meeting.
An Arlington school district spokesperson said the district and RJ Construction were negotiating scope and value of the work when the company sued and did not provide documents proving the value of its services.
“The district has repeatedly requested necessary documentation from RJ Construction, which has not been received,” read an emailed statement forwarded to the Star-Telegram. “The district also offered to resolve these issues through mediation but RJ Construction opted to sue the district instead.”
The company has proposed mediation with the district, but Arlington school district attorneys wrote Sept. 10 they will oppose mediation attempts unless Horn and Robinson are dismissed from the case as individuals. The school district previously suggested mediation but the company opposed.
If Horn and Robinson are not dismissed and have to go through the appeal process, attorneys for the district said, they could “talk mediation again in 2022, 2023, or 2024, whenever the appeals have been exhausted and then only if Plaintiff has not lost everything.”
Company owner Robert Jordan said in an email the district is claiming governmental immunity to avoid paying RJ Construction and is not questioning the value of his company’s services or lack of paperwork to support its invoice.
Jordan called the district’s statement “misleading and dangerous.”
“At best, AISD is trying to re-negotiate the deal after the work is completed,” Jordan wrote. “At worst, AISD is doing what their lawyer claimed was a viable tactic — to try and bankrupt me and my company.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2021 at 12:41 PM with the headline "Company sues Arlington school district over unpaid $1.2M winter storm cleanup bill."
