Concrete Flooring at Pennsylvania Hospital Draws L
Bethlehem, PA, October 22--Faulty concrete flooring being used to expand the Lehigh Valley Hospital Muhlenberg campus in Bethlehem has spawned a million-dollar lawsuit against contractors who supplied the materials, oversaw the work and allegedly sold faulty repair products, according to The Morning Call.
Phillipsburg Bridge & Construction Co. of Phillipsburg has filed suit in Lehigh County Court against the hospital's general contractor, Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. of Allentown; the concrete maker, Frank Casilio & Sons of Bethlehem; the testing company, Certified Testing Laboratories of Bethlehem; and the company that supplied repair materials, Euclid Chemical Co. of Cleveland, Ohio.
Phillipsburg Bridge claims that problems with the six floors of concrete slabs they installed were caused by an improper amount of air in the concrete supplied by Casilio.
Phillipsburg Bridge said the "vast majority" of the concrete slabs had been laid between August and October 2003, when "delamination" problems with the slabs were discovered by Whiting-Turner, the lawsuit alleges.
Attorney Platte Moring III of Allentown, representing Phillipsburg Bridge, said the top portion of the concrete separated from the bottom portion and that heavy tools dropped on the concrete landed with a hollow thud and would often crack or break the slabs. "These were supposed to be solid concrete blocks," Moring said.
A Lehigh Valley Hospital spokesman said the hospital will remain neutral in the lawsuit, adding the building project was unaffected.
"Because the matter is in litigation it would not be appropriate to comment about specifics," said Brian Downs, public affairs officer for the hospital. "The building project remains on schedule."
According to the lawsuit, CTL Labs' inspection reports showed the concrete met contract specifications.
Moring said Thursday that no tests were ever performed. "We allege that testing was never done, although there are reports," Moring said. "If we knew that the percentage of air was above specifications, we never would have put them down."
According to the lawsuit, "At Whiting-Turner's insistence, Phillipsburg performed certain remediation work at the project. In connection with its performance of remedial work, Phillipsburg purchased concrete repair products from Euclid."
They didn't work, according to the lawsuit.
As a result, the suit maintains, Whiting-Turner began replacing the slabs and charged the costs to Phillipsburg Bridge.
Phillipsburg is seeking $469,256 in payments from Whiting-Turner it claims it is still owed.
The company is also seeking damages in excess of $100,000 from Whiting-Turner; in excess of $200,000 for damages and breach of contract from Casilio; in excess of $200,000 for faulty repair materials and breach of contract from Euclid; and in excess of $100,000 for failing to detect the bad concrete from CTL Labs.
"Had CTL met its contractual obligations to Lehigh Valley Hospital, the problems ... would have been minimized or eliminated," the suit contends.
Work on the $60 million hospital expansion began in May 2003 and is expected to be completed in 2005. The seven-story, 260,000-square-foot addition will expand its regional heart center, add a new intensive care unit, a new diagnostics care center, a cafe, conference center, pharmacy and gift shop.
