Shareholders John Guin and Seth Price Secure $18M Ruling in Whistleblower Case Involving Construction of Broward County Courthouse

Atlanta Shareholders Secure $18M Ruling

Chamberlain Hrdlicka Shareholders John Guin and Seth Price successfully represented a whistleblower in recovering $18,014,934 from the defendants in a qui tam case involving the construction of the Broward County, FL Courthouse. The Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County held that the project’s general contractor and its parent company were liable for violations under the Broward County False Claims Ordinance.

“We are grateful to the Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County for its thoughtful consideration in holding that James A. Cummings, Tutor Perini Corporation and Tutor Perini Building Corporation were liable in this case,” said Price. “The case is a reminder to contractors everywhere that there are consequences to submitting false pay applications, and maintaining cash management policies that ignore controlling prompt pay statutes.”

This case arises out of the construction of the Broward County, FL Courthouse. The firm’s client, the whistleblower, asserted claims under the Broward County False Claims Ordinance against general contractor James A. Cummings; the general contractor’s parent company, Tutor Perini Corporation; and another related company subsidiary that assisted Cummings on the project, Tutor Perini Building Corporation.

Florida law requires that general contractors pay their subcontractors within 10 days of receiving money on public projects. The whistleblower claimed that on at least 37 different occasions, Cummings filed certifications and other supporting documents stating that it had timely paid the subcontractors, when in fact, it had not, all in violation of the Broward County False Claims Ordinance. In addition, the whistleblower asserted that Tutor Perini was liable because it had implemented a cash management program under which Cummings’ payment obligations to its subcontractors took a backseat to Tutor Perini’s immediate financial needs, resulting in late payments by Cummings to the subcontractors, in violation of the controlling Prompt Pay Act.

In his July 9, 2024 decision, the judge ruled in favor of the whistleblower, holding Cummings, Tutor Perini Corporation and subsidiary Tutor Perini Building Corporation liable for Cumming’s violations under the Broward County False Claims Ordinance. The court awarded in excess of $18 million which, under the Ordinance, will be divided between the whistleblower and Broward County.