Ohio Architect To Press for Fees Despite Setback in Owner Suit

Ohio architect Karlsberger Inc. will pursue a claim for $1.3 million in unpaid fees on a $1-billion hospital project at Ohio State University, Columbus, despite a Dec. 6 ruling by a state claims court judge that dismissed the firm’s suit against the school. Karlsberger, also in Columbus, seeks compensation for work completed after the university terminated its contract on the one-million-sq-ft Project ONE cancer care and medical center. The firm was replaced in its role on the project by HOK, the job’s master planner. Sandra J. Dickinson, Karlsberger’s corporate secretary and in-house counsel, says the claim for fees “was not subject to dismissal.” She says the architect also has filed a “motion for reconsideration because the court did not consider Karlsberger’s fundamental allegation that OSU acted unlawfully.” The firm, in a note on its website, says the court did not consider “that Ohio law does not allow unlawful conduct to be shielded from challenge or judicial review by inserting a termination without cause provision into a contract.”