Electric company involved in suit against Port Arthur housing authority

A Denton County electric company has filed suit against various Port Arthur agencies and companies, alleging it lost more than $50,000 when the defendants terminated its contract.

Thunderhorse Multi-Electric claims it began working on the Legacy Senior Housing of Port Arthur project when the project was suddenly halted due to orders by the project's mortgage holder.

According to the complaint filed Oct. 25 in Jefferson County District Court, the defendants -- Housing Authority of the city of Port Arthur, LRG Legacy Senior Housing of Port Arthur and Mid Texas Services -- renegotiated its original contract, allowing Thunderhorse to continue its work on the project.

However, Thunderhorse was not willing to warranty its work as the defendants wanted it to because it had performed no work on the site for more than six months and it was not assured the site had been secured, the suit states.

"Further, weather damage from a hurricane also played a big part in the need to inspect the premises before any further work took place, or any warranty could be issued," the complaint says.

Because of its need to inspect the premises before warranting its work, Thunderhorse could not complete its work until the defendants agreed to pay it for an inspection.

After an "inordinate" amount of time spent in negotiations, the defendants finally agreed to pay Thunderhorse for an inspection and additional work, Thunderhorse claims.

Following the inspection, Thunderhorse again began working on the housing project, but could not complete it because of various fixtures it was missing, according to the complaint. Thunderhorse claims the defendants should have provided the needed fixtures because they promised to do so in the original contract.

"After repeated requests for the fixtures and none were delivered, and upon the repeated requests of the contractor for a final inspection, the Plaintiff made the request for an inspection, knowing that it would not pass because of the lack of fixtures being installed," the suit states. "The inspection was done, and predictably it failed because there were missing fixtures."

Shortly after the second inspection, the defendants terminated their contract with Thunderhorse, but paid the company no money for work it performed, the complaint says.

Thunderhorse is seeking $48,183 for money it would have received under the new contract and $2,000 for the inspection it performed, plus pre- and post-judgment interest, costs, attorney's fees and other relief the court deems just.

John Allen Curtis of Dallas will be representing it.

The case has been assigned to Judge Milton Shuffield, 136th District Court.

Jefferson County District Court case number: D188-670