Hispanic contractors lose appeal
Armando Diaz, a Latino stone mason, found damning evidence that J.E. Dunn Construction Co. made a sham of minority-hiring goals when it subcontracted work on the H&R Block headquarters. But an appeals court says Diaz has no recourse.
Photo by Jaimie Warren Armando Diaz
In an opinion filed yesterday, the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling against Diaz Construction Co. and the Kansas City Hispanic Association Contractors Enterprise. Diaz and KCHACE had sued the city, J.E. Dunn and H&R Block, claiming fraud and breach of contract.
The suit, filed in 2005, accused J.E. Dunn of using fronts, or pass-throughs, in order inflate the amount of construction work awarded to minority businesses. In one instance, a $3 million contract was attributed to a Latino electrician who lacked the expertise necessary to complete the job at the H&R Block site.
Diaz lost in circuit court not because he lacked compelling information -- the judge, in fact, went out of his way to praise the case he and his lawyer had assembled. Instead, the judge, Charles E. Atwell, ruled that Diaz lacked standing because he was not a party to the development agreement which set the minority-hiring standards.
The appeals court said Atwell got it right. The judges ruled that the proper remedy for a violation of the city's affirmative-action policy is for the develper to pay damages to the TIF Commission, the agency that assisted H&R Block with the construction of its new HQ.
The TIF Commission is weighing its options. The agency has asked for an analysis of the effort made when J.E. Dunn, the city's largest contractor, distributed work on the Block project.
The analysis should be easy to complete. Diaz and his lawyer have done the heavy lifting.
Post a Comment
