ST. LOUIS — A commercial subcontracting company is suing a health care organization, citing alleged breach of contract and racial discrimination.
CMT LLC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Eastern Division against BJC Health System, alleging the defendant denied the same contractual rights and benefits afforded construction firms run by white male.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff, a minority and woman-owned business, alleges that in October 2016, it started work on roofing project after entering into $747,000 subcontract agreement with the defendant for the south Children's Tower, known as the SLCH South Tower. Despite experiencing costly scheduling delays and other costly construction issues, the plaintiff completed the job but was forced to abandon performing any further work it was not paid for work performed in the same manner as white male contractors were paid.
As a result, the plaintiff claims it suffered damages, including emotional distress and the loss of business profits.
The plaintiff holds BJC Health System responsible because the defendant allegedly denies the $1.5 million contract fee paid for a white firm for the same job, was subjected to a racially hostile environment and failed to honor its agreement with respect to providing support services to minority and woman-owned businesses and failed to protect from explicit and implicit discriminatory practices of the contractor.
The plaintiff seeks judgment to immediately cease the discriminatory practices, award of actual damages of $5 million and punitive damages, attorney's fees, pre- and post-judgment interest and additional relief as the court deems proper. They are represented by Eric E. Vickers in St. Louis.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Eastern Division case number 4:17-cv-02293-HEA