Columbus Municipal School District is facing a federal lawsuit from its own insurance company, Middlesex Insurance Company, over the cost of repairs to Hunt buildings damaged in the Feb. 23, 2019 tornado.
The Wisconsin-based insurance company filed a complaint in Mississippi Northern District court in Aberdeen last week, claiming CMSD is requesting more than $14 million in damages, including for one building not covered by the district’s insurance policy, and without submitting required documents detailing damage or demolition costs.
According to the complaint, Middlesex determined the cost to pay for damage is $4.8 million based on its own inspection of the buildings covered by the insurance policy.
Middlesex is asking the federal court for a declaratory judgment ruling CMSD is not entitled to payment beyond what the company has determined it owes.
The February 2019 tornado severely damaged all four buildings at the former Hunt High School on 20th Street North. At the time of the storm, the buildings housed the district’s alternative school, Hunt Success Academy, as well as an African-American history museum and storage space. Students at Hunt Success Academy have since moved temporarily to another district building.
To date, Middlesex has provided $3,619,480.12, which according to the complaint includes damage to all the buildings but the one housing the museum and some other payments.
According to the complaint, the district also failed to provide documentation detailing explanation that demolition of the main building was required, an allocation of architect and engineer cost, work proposals based on its architecture firm’s estimate and itemized estimates from architects or engineers for work to be conducted.
Neither Middlesex’s attorney, Brenan Ely of Birmingham-based Ely and Isenberg, LLC, nor CMSD’s attorney, Chris Hemphill of Columbus, returned calls from The Dispatch by press time.
CMSD board president Jason Spears said that while he doesn’t know all the details of the case, the complaint has come “out of left field.”
“This just kind of comes as a shock … that the insurance company would take this action,” he said.
He admitted the Hunt museum building is not on the policy, but he had thought everything else was covered for full replacement costs.
He said the district would continue to work with the insurance policy.
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