Hartford has paid $4.5 million in fees since 2017 to hire outside lawyers to defend itself against a high-stakes lawsuit claiming the city should not have fired the first developers of Hartford’s minor league baseball park and the land around it, according to records provided by the city.
Now, with the state Supreme Court ordering a new trial, those legal costs are expected to keep climbing.
The city could not provide an estimate of the hours its staff of lawyers spent on the lawsuit filed by Centerplan Construction Co. and DoNo Hartford LLC after their 2016 termination as builders of Dunkin’ Donuts Park and a future mixed-use development around the ballpark.
But the city’s chief attorney, Corporation Counsel Howard Rifkin, according to city estimates, devoted 30% of his time during the period from the developers’ termination to the first trial on the issue. During the five-week trial in 2019 — after which a jury sided with the city’s decision to fire — Rifkin spent 90% of his time on the matter. Rifkin is paid an annual salary of $146,375, city records show.
The selection of Centerplan and DoNo Hartford and their subsequent firing straddled two mayoral administrations. Mayor Pedro E. Segarra hired the first development team and ground was broken just north of downtown Hartford in early 2015.
The city’s current mayor, Luke Bronin, fired Centerplan and DoNo Hartford, in June, 2016, just six months into his first term. Bronin pointed to cost overruns, missed construction deadlines, and incomplete work.
Centerplan and DoNo sought $90 million in damages for wrongful termination, alleging the city ordered changes that delayed completion of the $71 million, city-taxpayer funded, 6,000-seat stadium.
‘The number is huge’
The tally, so far, on outside legal costs took some by surprise.
“The number is huge, and if they have to pay another huge number and they don’t do well on the second trial, that’s a potential disaster and fiscal crisis for the city,” said Robert K. Killian Jr., a lifelong Democrat who served as the city’s probate judge 31 years through eight elections.
Bronin, now in his second term as mayor, maintains the second trial also will reaffirm his decision to fire the developers. He also stands by the decision to terminate, and the legal fees, while substantial, are a fraction of what city taxpayers might have been on the hook for.
“There have been tough decisions and close calls in my time as mayor,” Bronin said. “This was not one of them. I had a deep conviction that if we had not terminated Centerplan, taxpayers of Hartford would have been out tens of millions of dollars more, probably would not have had a baseball team or a baseball stadium to show for it.”
Bronin said that after the termination, Centerplan’s surety company stepped in to finish the job, hiring a new contractor.
Centerplan “said they were 98% done, but if you are 98% done, your insurance company does not have to spend $40 million to correct and finish your work,” Bronin said.
Before being elected as mayor in 2015, Bronin, a Democrat, was critical of the decision by the then-fiscally strained city to borrow funds to finance the stadium and choose a developer who had no experience building a ballpark. Once mayor, the stadium had to be seen through to completion, Bronin said, and he acknowledges that it has become an asset for the city.
Bronin declined comment on whether he would consider settling the lawsuit out of court.
Killian, an attorney who also was in the field of Democratic mayoral candidates in 2015, said the city was in a tough position and needed to finish the stadium so it could move on with development around the ballpark. The mixed-use development was intended to boost the city’s tax base, but also help pay down the debt on the ballpark.
“I hope — and believe — they will have a good shot at the second trial, since the first was overturned on a procedural issue,” Killian said.
Second trial more complex
The second trial will examine who made changes to the stadium plans and when, particularly in the six months leading up to Centerplan and DoNo Hartford’s termination, an issue central to the state Supreme Court ordering a new trial. But the lawsuit also has become more complex because the city subsequently hired a new builder for the apartments and storefront space around Dunkin’ Donuts Park.
The developer, RMS Cos. of Stamford, is nearing completion of the first phase of 270 apartments, just to the south of the ballpark. But Centerplan and DoNo Hartford are seeking to block RMS from moving on to the second phase and essentially take back development around the park. There could be financial implications in terms of damages for moving ahead with another developer should the jury in the second trial reach a verdict in favor of the former developers.
If a jury in the second trial were to side with Centerplan and DoNo Hartford and award damages, there would likely be an appeal. If the developers were ultimately successful, there is no insurance coverage that would cover the award, city officials confirmed.
Councilman Josh Michtom, of the Working Families Party, said he wonders how far the city should pursue litigation, especially with mounting outside legal bills. He said he believes the vision for the ballpark — and the surrounding development — was ill-conceived from the start and has yet to boost businesses downtown or increase guests staying at city hotels.
“I understand that we want to extract something good like housing and broader development,” Michtom said. “But at what point do we just throw in the towel and solve the thing the cheapest way possible? We should be wary of spending more on litigating this issue than the city will ever get out of winning it.”
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
