Business & Tech

Settlement Amount Paid in Construction Spat Released in Court Fight

A developer paid $3.2 million in damages after work on a 200-unit apartment building led to large cracks in the walls of a building next door that housed Dansez! Dansez! dance studio and Fresh Grill restaurant.

The amount of a settlement the developer of a 17-story Bethesda apartment building that caused serious structural damage to a one-story building next door came out this week in a fresh court battle over legal fees in the case. agreed to pay the building owner $3.2 million.

Bainbridge, which is near completion on its 200-unit apartment tower on Fairmont Avenue, never admitted fault for the sheeting and shoring work that caused large cracks in the walls of the former home of the Dansez! Dansez! dance studio and Fresh Grill restaurant.

But four days before a Dec. 9 trial, Bainbridge and building owner White Flint Express Realty settled out of court for $3.2 million in damages, reports Bethesda.Now.

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The sum was disclosed in a court order on Thursday that decided the fight over legal fees. Montgomery County Circuit Judge Ronald Rubin ordered Bainbridge to pay White Flint Express an additional $3.5 million in legal fees and $411,000 in costs and expenses.

Bainbridge argued that White Flint Express had too many people on its legal team, a charge Rubin dismissed because of the amount of details and experts involved in the case. The website says he also dismissed many of Bainbridge’s arguments against the legal fee payout because the company never took responsibility for its work that caused cracks in the building’s walls and forced its evacuation in February 2012.

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While Dansez! Dansez! has relocated to Norfolk Avenue, Fresh Grill is suing the developer, construction company and White Flint Express, claiming that being forced out of its Fairmont Avenue location caused the business to close.


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