After year's delay, Windsor Road lawsuit goes to trial
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URBANA — The theme was "once more with feeling" Tuesday in a Champaign County courtroom, where lawyers are squabbling over who's to blame for shoddy construction of a 1/4 -mile section of Windsor Road in Urbana.
If that sounds familiar, it's because the case originally was scheduled to be tried in October 2022. But Circuit Judge Jason Bohm called a mistrial after six days of testimony because three lawyers trying the case contracted the coronavirus.
The trial stems from a lawsuit the City of Urbana filed against Stark Construction of Bloomington. The city is seeking roughly $3 million in damages to make repairs to cracks in the concrete.
Denying blame for the obvious construction problem, Stark is seeking more that $338,000 for construction work it did but for which it has not been paid.
Lawyers for both sides made their opening statements to the jury Tuesday morning. Testimony was scheduled to begin in the afternoon.
In separate one-hour statements, lawyers struggled to explain the intricacies of road construction, what problems developed and who was responsible for the cracks on Windsor between Race Street and Philo Road.
Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin, representing the city, was seated with the city's lawyers while Dave Stark Jr. joined lawyers representing his family-owned firm.
Construction on Windsor began in 2014. Cracks started showing up on the road not long after it was opened in 2015.
Since then, the city has continued to make spot repairs while pursuing litigation.
The trial apparently will be an exercise in finger-pointing. Urbana blames Stark for not following contract specifications while Stark is blaming engineering design flaws and outmoded construction standards promulgated by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).
"This is a case about a road that was improperly constructed by a contractor," said Bloomington lawyer Brian Thielen, who is representing the city.
Not so, said Chicago lawyer Doug Palandech, who is representing Stark. He argued that the road's problems were caused by "factors outside Stark's control."
Thielen's argument was straightforward. He said the road design and the construction contract required Stark to follow a specific construction recipe, admonition he said Stark didn't follow.
Speaking in detail, Thielen outlined the process of road building, starting with the subgrading process on the ground. As the process continues upward to the road surface, specific steps are necessary to ensure the concrete on top has enough give to avoid cracking.
That process involves working on individual sections of road (15-foot road-construction panels) that are reinforced with steel and using dowel bars and baskets.
Dowel bars are small steel bars embedded in concrete to carry stress-inducing traffic. Thielen said the dowel process was undermined by poor alignment. He also faulted the equipment used by Stark as inadequate.
In his response, Palandech acknowledged cracking in the pavement, something he said happens on every road. Minimizing the overall problem, he noted that Windsor is "still serving the public" and providing a "relatively smooth driving experience."
As for the obvious shortcomings, he said there is no proof of dereliction of duty, that specifications were "substantially followed" and Stark was required to follow "flawed instructions."
Palandech noted, for example, that IDOT has changed construction specifications, now requiring smaller road panels less prone to cracking.
"Meeting IDOT (specifications) in 2012 means you designed a disaster," he told jurors.
