As promised, State Supreme Court Justice Frank Caruso handed down his decision in the first of many continuing legal battles related to the long delayed road construction project. The Route 104 Lewiston Road project has stalled due to feuds between the contractor, Man O’Trees, Inc. and the City of Niagara Falls over funding, public safety, work stoppage and breach of contract issues. Caruso found that the City was in the right and denied Man O’Trees its request for an injunction to stop the City from giving the work to another contractor.
In his nine page decision issued Friday, September 28, Caruso vacated the temporary restraining order that prevented the City from awarding a new contract to do work on Lewiston Road to another construction company and freed City officials from the non-disparagement order sought by the plaintiffs Man O’Trees and its owner David Pfeiffer.
From a legal perspective, Man O’Trees failed to meet the standard to uphold a preliminary injunction.
In order for an action seeking injunctive relief to be successful, there are three or four prongs that must be satisfied. (1) There must be a likelihood of success on the merits by the party bringing the action. (2) There must be the likelihood of irreparable harm to the party bringing the action if injunctive relief is not granted. (3) The court must consider the balancing of the equities between the parties. This requires the court to weigh such factors as public policy and the convenience or hardship to the parties in order to determine what is fair. (4) Sometimes, the court will also consider whether the public interest is not disserved by granting or denying the injunction.
Caruso found that Man O’Trees did not meet the standard. The City successfully argued that there was no irreparable harm to Man O’Trees. From the Court’s Decision and Order, “…irreparable harm cannot be shown here. This case is a contract dispute between a municipality and a contractor who was to be paid money to perform a service. ‘A preliminary injunction may not be obtained where, as here, the irreparable loss claimed is economic.’ The complaint filed in this case contained requests for monetary compensation and a request for money damages undercuts a claim of irreparable harm. This is also not a unique project which may give the plaintiff some special non-monetary reward for completion.”
In applying the other factors, Caruso did not find Man O’Trees’ argument persuasive. On the charges of defamation, he felt Mayor Dyster’s statements were privileged as a public official and there were not actionable. In other words, there was no proof that what he said was patently untrue. If he were to follow Man O’Trees’ line of argument, any contractor terminated from a job would have a cause of action against its employer. Caruso did not agree with that reasoning and found that the scales tipped in favor of the City.
As a result of this Decision, the City can award the Lewiston Road construction contract to Accadia Site Contracting upon the City Council’s approval, which is expected to occur on Monday, October 1. Weather permitting, work will commence within a week’s time. |