Jury issues ruling in Pine Nursery playground dispute
A 4-day trial and 3 1/2-year legal battle over playground improvements at Pine Nursery Park in Bend is over. A 12-person jury on Monday voted unanimously in favor of Alpha Turf NW, LLC, which claimed it was never paid after helping resurface the playground.
Bend Park and Rec District officials said that paves the way for the work to be finished and the playground to reopen this fall.
” J.P. Prinz was also claiming that my client had been negligent, breached a warranty, and some other claims and the jury found that was not the case, found in Alpha Turf’s favor on all of the claims — and it was unanimous, ” said Megan Burgess, the attorney representing Alpha Turf. ” So after a long road, my client was very pleased to finally get a result and move on from this. ”
In 2015, Bend Parks and Rec contracted with J.P. Prinz to install new surfacing at the playground. J.P. Prinz, in turn, subcontracted with Alpha Turf to provide labor and materials for the project, which was completed in September 2015.
Alpha Turf’s attorney said J.P. Prinz never paid Alpha Turf the $13,000 it was owed and filed a lawsuit in 2016.
Alpha Turf later refused to provide warranty services to repair the playground surfacing. T hat’s why a fence has been put up there for more than a year.
” Children were playing at the park, there were a lot of pictures at the park that came in, ” Burgess said. ” There are potentially some minor warranty repairs after hard play of kids over there. I think the jury saw through the testimony and photographs and the timing, there was no real excuse for my client having not been paid for the work. ”
After Monday’s verdict, the park district said in a statement to NewsChannel 21: ” Bend Park & Recreation District appreciates the community’s patience with the Pine Nursery Park playground issues. Work to replace the playground surfacing will begin soon and is expected to be completed by mid-November. We’re excited to have the playground reopened. ”
Park and Rec officials said it’s unclear if it will contract J.P. Prinz for any future projects. S o to complete the repairs, the agency has reached out to Precision Recreation, a company based in Portland.
KTVZ 2019
