Lang
4/26/24
The Iowa Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling that had affirmed a $12.8 million award given to Modern Piping of Cedar Rapids in its ongoing dispute with the University of Iowa.
Judge Chad Kepros ruled in January of last year that a jury’s decision in the original lawsuit was supported by the evidence presented. The jury verdict determined that the UI wrongfully blocked the American Arbitration Association from originally mediating the dispute.
Modern Piping had previously been awarded $21.5 million when a judge ruled in favor of the contractor after an arbitrator determined they deserved additional payment for work done on the hospital and Hancher Auditorium.
Modern Piping argued that the UI owed them over $12 million in profits from the eight months the Children’s Hospital was in operation while construction was ongoing. A lower court agreed, but on Friday the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Modern Piping “led the district court astray when it convinced the court that its claim for wrongful injunction entitled it to recover restitution in the form of a broad-reaching unjust enrichment claim”.
The Iowa Supreme Court did uphold an over $21,000 judgment to Modern Piping for the cost of processing an injunction in the case.