EXCLUSIVE: Columbia quietly pays $2.4 million to architect who sued

Columbia city officials have quietly paid $2.4 million to an architecture firm that sued the city more than 10 years ago.

The unpublicized payoff puts an end to a longstanding legal dispute with Stevens & Wilkinson’s legal fight to collect fees it said were due in connection with a proposed Vista convention center hotel that was never built.

In all, the city spent $4 million in legal fees and awards in its futile effort to avoid paying a $1.6 million bill.

The settlement was confirmed Monday by council member Moe Baddourah, who said the settlement was for more than $2 million paid by taxpayers.

“We need to make this process more transparent for the public to know about and understand,” Baddourah said.

City officials did not respond to an inquiry from The State newspaper asking when the seven-member council agreed to the settlement and the exact amount of the payoff.

Stevens & Wilkinson’s lawyer Dick Harpootlian confirmed the settlement, which he said was for $2.4 million. Harpootlian declined further comment except to say Bobby Lyles, chairman of the architecture firm, is satisfied.

The $2.4 million is the total of a $1.6 million jury decision against the city and $800,000 in interest that Circuit Judge Alison Lee tacked on in September.

Carl Solomon, a lawyer recently hired by the city to consider an appeal of the jury decision, also confirmed the settlement. Solomon and another lawyer, John Nichols, also recently hired, both recommended the matter be settled, Solomon said.

After a four-day trial last July, a Richland County jury awarded $1.65 million to Stevens & Wilkinson after deliberating two hours.

City officials resisted paying the firm for years.

Stevens & Wilkinson filed its lawsuit in 2005. After numerous appeals, including one to the South Carolina Supreme Court, the trial took place in July.

The dispute stemmed from work that the firm and a team of professional engineers and architects did in 2003 and 2004.

They drew up plans for a proposed city-funded 300-room hotel that would serve as a convention center.

But city officials dropped that plan in 2004 and chose another developer to build a smaller hotel largely with private money.

Evidence at the trial showed a lawsuit could likely have been prevented if the both sides had a clearly-written initial agreement stating what work was to be done and for how much.

Council member Cameron Runyan said Monday that council did give the private attorneys the go-ahead to settle the lawsuit but didn’t recall details.

“The city spent an obscene amount of money litigating this thing just to lose it,” Runyan said. “There was no reason to continue.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 6:30 PM with the headline "EXCLUSIVE: Columbia quietly pays $2.4 million to architect who sued."