On July 26, 2018, the Cane River Waterway Commission filed suit against Womack & Sons Construction, Inc., and Womack’s bonding company.  On September 13, 2018, Womack & Sons Construction filed its answer to the Commissions’ original lawsuit.  In its answer, Womack generally denied that it was responsible for any failure of the pump station.  Womack also filed a counterclaim against the Commission, seeking full payment of the contract sums allegedly owed under the contract.  In addition, Womack sought payment for a specific change order, which Womack alleged was approved in April 2018.  In addition to this counterclaim, Womack filed a third party claim against its own subcontractor, Tekleen Automatic Filters, Inc. (“Tekleen”), and Tekleen’s bonding company.  Womack generally alleged that the filters provided by Tekleen were not sufficient to meet the specifications of the job, which specifications required that the filters be capable of allowing a water flow of 30,000 gallons per minute.  Alternatively, Womack alleged that the specifications themselves were inadequate.  Womack also named the Commission’s engineer, Denmon Engineering Company, Inc., as a third-party defendant.        The Commission’s goal remains to obtain a pumping station that will meet the specifications of the job.  Tekleen and Denmon Engineering (and their respective bonding companies) must now respond to the third-party demands that Womack has filed against them.  It will likely be several weeks before all of these parties have responded to the allegations.  The Commission shall continue to evaluate all of its options as it moves through the process of litigation.