FARMINGTON – A Canaan contractor filed a lawsuit against local developers Byron “Buzz” Davis and William Marceau for the maximum $4,500 in Franklin County small claims court.
Walter Moody, owner of Moody’s Antique Buildings, claims that his contract with the developers said he was to receive 50 percent of all salvage from demolition of the Maine Dowel Mill on Fairbanks Road, where Davis and Marceau plan to develop residential and business property.
The developers “ordered me to bury my half of the bricks,” he wrote in his claim, the value of which would have been $9,000.
“I had these things sold,” Moody said after filing the suit in Farmington on Wednesday last week. “They wanted them out of sight, out of mind.”
Moody, a salvage contractor for 34 years, recently removed and salvaged a historic home in Farmington at the corner High and Lincoln streets to make way for the University of Maine at Farmington’s new education center. He said he also recently demolished the Skiland Woolen Mills in Clinton, which is four times the size of the Fairbanks property.
At issue is a contract saying Moody was to complete the demolition and salvage within a set time.
The contract, according to both parties, specified that the job be completed within four weeks. Moody admitted on Tuesday that he and his crew had been there for six weeks, but that it was due to interference from the developers, he said.
“I was hired to be the contractor, and I didn’t have control over the project,” he said Tuesday.
What Moody characterized as interference, Davis called extra help, saying he and his partner were there personally helping and had hired “extra help to speed things up.”
“Time was of the essence,” he said, because of the cost of renting the heavy machinery.
Both Davis and Moody said the contract called for the developers to provide the necessary heavy machinery, but Moody said a needed excavator was not rented until two weeks into the project. Davis said they were planning on renting the excavator for only two weeks, but that they kept it a third.
“It was a terrible situation,” Moody said. “There’s a lot of hard feelings, I believe.”
Davis and Marceau were surprised when they received the court documents. Moody had said he was satisfied with his take, but he apparently changed his mind, Davis said Monday.
“We were thoroughly surprised” to receive the papers, he said.
“We’re guilty until proven innocent,” he added. “It’s a malicious attempt to stain our reputation and it’s really unfortunate. Our reputation is important to us that we’re the honest businessmen that we are.”
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