Memorial Health System is suing a general contractor it fired three years ago from an expansion project on its main campus on East Boulder Street.

The complaint, filed Aug. 19 in El Paso County District Court, contends that the city-owned hospital system overpaid Dallas-based Turner Construction Co. "a substantial amount of money," and is seeking an unspecified reimbursement, along with interest and attorney and court fees.

Memorial did not provide a dollar figure on how much it should be refunded because the amount is in dispute, said spokesman Chris Valentine.

Court documents show the money being sought, though, is more than $100,000.

Memorial hired Turner in August 2003 to build a women's and children's hospital on its main campus and terminated the contract June 24, 2005, because of what Memorial called breaches of the agreement it had with Turner.

Among Memorial's allegations: Turner failed to perform work in a timely fashion, have an adequate number of workers on the project, supervise the job and other responsibilities of the agreement.

Turner, in a June 29, 2005, Gazette article, said the company parted ways with Memorial because it could not stay within the budgeted $51 million because of increasing costs of steel, concrete and other materials.

Memorial reached an agreement with Turner in July 2005, according to the lawsuit, to pay Turner for the work the company had performed.

Jeffrey Mack, general manager of Turner's Denver office, said at the time: "It was an amicable arrangement to part ways. We're trying to help them any way we can."

Mack could not be reached Thursday for comment.

In September 2005, Memorial officials requested that the city auditor's office review the project, Valentine said. The review revealed that Turner had charged Memorial for "expenses not billable under the agreement and for subcontractor expenses which were not, in fact, incurred by Turner on the project," the lawsuit claims.

Valentine said Memorial and Turner have been trying to reach a settlement for three years.

"We have been unable to reach an agreement and because the statue of limitations is nearing, we filed the lawsuit now. Our hope is to resolve this issue without going to court," Valentine said.

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