Suit settled over Freemansburg school leaks

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Suit settled over Freemansburg school leaks

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Suit settled over Freemansburg school leaks

Tuesday, February 28, 206

By JAMES S. YOUNG

The Express-Times

BETHLEHEM | The Bethlehem Area School District will accept a

$1.2 million

settlement from three contractors it sued for allegedly

causing

substantial leaks and mold at Freemansburg Elementary School

in 2000.

The mold, which spread through walls to ceilings and school

supplies,

forced all 350 Freemansburg students to attend makeshift

classrooms in

Bethlehem Steel's former 701 E. Third St. office building for

the entire

2000-01 school year.

The damage appeared after White Brothers of Reading left the

school's roof

unprotected from rainwater while the company was replacing it,

according

to the suit.

The settlement also involves Miorelli & Co. of Hazleton, which

performed

concrete work, and Shippe Mechanical Inc. of Bristol, Pa.,

which provided

plumbing and mechanical work.

Superintendent ph had recommended the school board

adopt the

settlement, and board members followed that recommendation by

unanimous

vote Monday night.

Stanley Majewski, assistant superintendent for business, said

the suit

never made it to the federal court level. The settlement was

reached

during negotiations in December in Northampton County Court

before Judge

Baratta, Majewski said.

" It's actually as good as or better than we anticipated, " he

said,

referring to the amount of the settlement. The total cost of

repairing the

damage has been $1.35 million. The district is pursuing the

balance from

insurance companies, he said.

The district initially sued the contractors for $1.5 million.

Officials

sought to transfer the case to federal court in the hope of

getting

quicker results and a larger reward.

School officials had said the damage included the discovery

that the

school had small quantities of a potentially lethal variety of

mold.

The school district also had to pay for the temporary school

site,

replacement of textbooks and supplies, remediation of

Freemansburg

Elementary and other costs.