Akron suing stadium builders over faulty concrete railings

Akron is suing Welty Building Co. and “several other companies” over faulty concrete railings at InfoCision Stadium that the school says will cost more than $1 million to fix.

“The way they installed the railing was wrong. It’s not safe,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of UA, said in an interview Friday, via the Akron Beacon Journal. “That’s dangerous stuff — and we’ve got to get it fixed.”

According to the Beacon Journal, Akron and the state government of Ohio are everyone involved with the construction of the stadium and the concrete railings:

UA filed the lawsuit against HNTB Ohio Inc., which handled the design and construction administration of the stadium; Welty Building Co. in Fairlawn, the construction manager; Parsons Concrete Contractors Inc. in North Canton, which supplied the concrete; and EPI of Cleveland, which provided the grout to hold the railings in place. The university also is suing the surety companies that issued bonds on behalf of Parsons Concrete and EPI.

InfoCision Stadium was built in 2009 at a cost of $71 million.

“Since the problem was discovered approximately seven years ago we have continuously worked with the university to address any safety concerns, to identify those responsible and to get them to fix the problem,” Welty Building Co. said in a statement. “We are not aware of any ongoing safety concerns at this point and we have attended numerous meetings and mediations along with the university and other parties in an effort to resolve the issue. We expect the litigation will assign responsibility for the claimed defects where it is due, and that Welty will be found to have fully and properly performed its contract with the university.”