#ncga: Solar school scheme seeking growth in NC besieged by lawsuits in SC

Remember the guys who were seeking the General Assembly’s permission to use government money to develop school buildings (with a bunch of solar panels on them, of course) that can then be leased BACK to local governments?

Well, this development group has been hard at work in the Myrtle Beach area.  So far, we’ve heard about non-transparency issues,. fights with local officials, a SLED probe, and now some serious lawyering up:

A Lake City-based construction company sued Horry County Schools and other contractors for allegedly failing to fully pay for work on four new Horry County schools.

According to the lawsuit, F&B Mechanical claims it supplied “labor, materials and equipment” in the construction of the new schools — St. James Intermediate, Socastee Elementary, Myrtle Beach Middle and Socastee Middle. The total cost of the projects was $260,274, but the company says it only has been paid $69,670.

F&B Mechanical is suing the school district and five companies — Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America, First Floor Energy Positive, Integrated Contracting Group, Metcon Inc., and TA Loving Inc. — to collect the alleged $190,604 debt.

[…]

It is the second lawsuit filed against HCS and First Floor in the past year. In September, the two entities were hit with multiple lawsuits asking for more than $778,000 after a subcontractor allegedly didn’t pay its supplier, court filings state.

Capital Materials of Savannah filed five complaints against Hester Drywall claiming it had not fully paid Capital for “labor, material and/or equipment” supplied for work on Ten Oaks Middle, St. James Intermediate, Socastee Elementary, Socastee Middle and Myrtle Beach Middle schools.[…]

First Floor Energy Positive and Metcon have been aggressively lobbying the General Assembly and local governments across the state to bring this type of deal north of the border.