Judge Tiktin hammers Mt. Shadow lawsuit

A. Wayne Scott was slapped with a stinging rebuke by Judge Stephen Tiktin on March 6. Tiktin ruled that Scott's lawsuit against Barclay Contractors of Sisters was "meritless."

Scott had sued Barclay for $171,000 for alleged construction deficiencies at the Mt. Shadow RV Park in Sisters.

But on February 5, a jury found that Scott still owed Barclay about $83,000 for work done.

In this last ruling, Judge Tiktin said Scott's initial claims for $171,000 were "so grossly overstated as to be ludicrous."

The evidence that Scott had suffered any damages from Barclay Contractors was very weak, said the judge, and Tiktin found that Scott himself did not believe his own claims.

"So, for these reasonsÉI conclude (Scott's lawsuit) was meritless," said Judge Tiktin.

As a result of that ruling, Scott will have to pay Barclay's attorney's fees. Barclay was given another 10 days to demonstrate to the court whether the firm was eligible to collect additional expenses.

In his lawsuit Scott claimed RV pads were built too high, trees were killed during construction and a drainfield line Scott claimed was installed with too little slope caused problems with his sewage pumps.

In court, Scott claimed that Barclay did not build the park according to plans.

Tiktin said that Scott knew the park was not built to the plans, and that "you (Scott) also knew the reason that occurred was that the engineer mis-staked the parkÉ"

As to the alleged failure of sewage pumps, Judge Tiktin noted that while Scott claimed the pumps were damaged within six months of the park's completion, they actually failed 18 months or two full seasons after installation.

The septic system may have been poorly designed, Tiktin noted, but that was the responsibility of Sun Country Engineering, which designed it, not the contractor who installed it.

Evidence that Scott did not believe his own claims against Barclay included a deposition from former RV Park manager Michael Parks that Scott told Parks "it was an engineering problem and not that Barclay was at fault," according to Judge Tiktin.

According to testimony in court, Scott also told Barclay owner Eldon Howard and project general contractor David Clemens (who Scott also sued) that he was suing them to gain leverage against Sun Country. Clemens took notes of his meeting with Scott.

"You don't sue somebody and force them to hire a lawyer and spend a week in court to get leverage over somebody else," chided Judge Tiktin.

Tiktin was clearly displeased with the fact that an "asphalt man" from "Mr. Scott's side of the mountains" testified it would cost $150,000 to repair three RV pads.

"It is apparent to the court that if defects exist those defects could be repaired for a few hundred dollars.É" the judge said.

Even after Scott settled his case with Sun Country Engineering, receiving about $10,000, the suit against Barclay continued because, according to Barclay's lawyer, Martin Hansen, "Scott did not want to pay the bill" still owed to Barclay.

Scott's lawyer said that his client sued because he believed he had suffered damages.

As to whether Barclay Contractors can claim additional expenses against Scott, Judge Tiktin asked the lawyers to provide additional arguments over within the next 10 days.

The arguments will hinge on whether Scott falsely certified that his claims were true, even though his lawyer signed the certified documents, and that Scott's lawyer did not know the claims were without merit.

Attorney Hansen argued that "you cannot insulate yourself by keeping your lawyer in the dark."