Lawsuits claim town of Andrews failed to pay for work on municipal complex

ANDREWS — Three lawsuits were filed in July against the town of Andrews and the design-build division of Columbia-based general contractor GMK Associates, two alleging a breach of contact for services on the town’s municipal complex project.

Florence-based Cayce Company, Conway-based Spann Roofing and Sheet Metal and Richland County-based Columbia Construction Services alleged in separate lawsuits that they have received incomplete payment for work on the project, leading to a stop-work order issued by GMK. Andrews is still in the midst of a lawsuit filed against Georgetown County Council and its chairman, Louis Morant, alleging insufficient funding of the municipal complex project through the county’s capital project sales tax.

Spann Roofing and Sheet Metal filed its lawsuit first, in the Georgetown County Court of Common Pleas on July 6. The company claims that it provided services on the Andrews municipal complex project to GMK’s design-build division in the amount of $259,720 but only received a partial payment of $25,245 in August 2021. No further payments have been made, according to the lawsuit.

In its original complaint, the company said it believed it was entitled to foreclosure on the property under a mechanic’s lien it filed, and asked for a non-jury trial with judgment for unpaid labor and materials with legal interest, as well as an order to foreclose on the municipal complex property so it can be sold at public auction and the proceeds applied to the outstanding debt. 

Spann Roofing and Sheet Metal’s complaint was amended on Aug. 9 to exclude the request for a foreclosure order.

Three weeks later, on July 29, Cayce Company and Columbia Construction Services filed separate lawsuits in the Georgetown County Court of Common Pleas alleging that they have not been paid for their services since October, “ostensibly due to a lack of funding on the part of the Town of Andrews.”

As the town has not paid GMK Associates, the lawsuits read, subcontractors have gone unpaid. Columbia Construction Services claimed an outstanding balance of more than $170,000 in its suit, while Cayce Company claimed a balance of more than $100,000.

GMK issued a notice to stop work on Jan. 26 which took effect “on or about” Feb. 2 and acknowledged termination of its subcontracts with Columbia Construction Services and Cayce Company on July 6. Both companies had notified GMK of their intent to terminate the previous day.

“GMK periodically provided updates to its subcontractors, including CCS, from February 2022 through June of 2022 regarding various efforts by the Town of Andrews and GMK to secure funding for the Project to pay past due obligation and to complete the remaining work,” Columbia Construction Services’ lawsuit reads. “None of these efforts resulted in any funding and no payments were ever made on the past due payment obligations of the Town of Andrews and GMK.”

Both companies are seeking recovery of “all amounts due for work performed, interest thereon at the prevailing legal rate, increased costs associated with the termination, lost profits, and reasonable attorney’s fees pursuant to the terms of the GMK subcontract.”

Attorneys Robert Bryan Barnes and Kristen Soucy of Columbia-based firm Rogers Townsend are representing the defendants in the lawsuits filed by Cayce Company and Columbia Construction Services. Neither Barnes nor Soucy responded to requests for comment, and no attorney for the defendants in the lawsuit filed by Spann Roofing and Sheet Metal is listed in the Georgetown County public index.

GMK Associates and the town of Andrews did not respond to requests for comment.

North Carolina-based subcontractor Manganaro Southeast filed suit against GMK and the town of Andrews on the afternoon of Aug. 17, alleging that it has gone unpaid since Oct. 19, 2021, and is owed $112,680 plus interest and attorney’s fees.