Contractor in Future Legends case responds to claims of conspiracy and filing an excessive lien

WINDSOR — The general contractor for the Future Legends Sports Complex responded this week to allegations of conspiring with a bank to put the complex in financial distress, and it also defended its move to file a lien against property within the complex.

In short, an attorney for Jaco General Contractor Inc. alleges that Future Legends lawyers misapplied the law and their arguments are “completely wrong” when claiming a lien the contractor filed was excessive and improper. The filing also balks at the idea of a conspiracy to put Future Legends in financial distress.

“These allegations are entirely fabricated, unsubstantiated by any facts or evidence, and conflict with the undisputed facts that demonstrate Future Legends’ widespread failures to pay its contractors for work properly executed, including Jaco, its subcontractors, Future Legends Architect, and numerous other vendors and contractors directly hired by Future Legends to perform work at the Project that have been unpaid for more than a year.”

Jaco and Future Legends attorneys have been arguing since August in court motions regarding a case that has been combined from three different lawsuits from subcontractors who say they were not paid for work they did on the job in the last year or so.

In the midst of that litigation, U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union, which loaned Future Legends $45 million to develop the sports complex, filed a motion to sue for nonpayment. Due to that filing, Weld District Court Judge Shannon Lyons appointed a receiver to take over three structures on the property: the dome, which is an indoor sports facility with a clubhouse; a main stadium/arena, which is only a concrete shell at this point; and the semi-finished dormitories, which were to house visiting teams to the complex.

That move spawned its own set of filings by Future Legends, which claims that the receiver is incompetent and inexperienced in running the facility, and that his presence could place the complex in jeopardy of losing future loans to complete the complex. The receiver, Michael Staheli of Cordes & Co. in Denver, has secured his own attorney in the case but has not filed a response to claims of incompetence. The judge also has not ruled on the requests to remove Staheli as receiver.

The sports complex is not finished, and it still has a long way to go before it is, but there’s more than $56 million in lawsuits against the project and $13.9 million in liens encumbering the property. Meanwhile, another claim has been filed. Axis Electric Services LLC of Longmont filed a lawsuit Oct. 3 against Future Legends for non-payment of $4,084 worth of electrical work. The filing states that Future Legends’ check didn’t clear, and when a demand for payment was sent on Sept. 12, the letter was refused.

Jaco’s lien of $3.48 million was filed in February. In the latest court filings, Jaco attorneys stated the lien was filed only after non-payment of their invoices and Future Legends’ failure to pay after repeated demands.

In September, Future Legends claimed that since that lien was filed against 22 properties in Future Legends, it would equate to more than $76.8 million and was an excessive and improper “blanket lien.”

Jaco’s attorneys responded that they were misreading the law, and the lien was never intended to be more than $3.48 million. In an affidavit filed in the court, Jaco president John Walker said he believed Future Legends owed in excess of $7 million, including late fees.

“Future Legends does not explain how or why it believes that contracts limited to three parcels can somehow create obligations with respect to twenty-two different parcels, not referenced in any way by any of those same contracts. Nor could it. It is axiomatic that a contract can only create duties with respect to the subject matter of that contract and as between the contracting parties. To hold otherwise would open the door to absurd results, which courts must avoid,” the filing stated.

Future Legends’ attorneys also claimed that Jaco should have defended the company against the subcontractors who filed the liens. Again, Jaco attorneys said they have interpreted the law incorrectly.

“… Future Legends cannot force Jaco to indemnify it from liens that Future Legends itself caused,” Jaco’s motion states.  “And here, Future Legends failed, repeatedly, to satisfy its payment obligations under the master agreement.
“Future Legends has been in default of its payment obligations under the master agreement and related work orders for more than a year. Had Future Legends timely paid all of its contractors for work performed, the liens would not have been necessary. Jaco has made all payments to its subcontractors, upon receipt of payment by and through Future Legends. This issue (and the other litigations arising from the project) starts and ends with Future Legends and its failure to make contractually required payments.

“Because Future Legends materially breached the contract first by failing to pay, Jaco is excused from performance under the master agreement and related work orders.”

Case No., 2023CV030946, Coloscapes Concrete Inc et al v. Jaco General Contractor Inc et al, filed Nov. 22, 2023 in Weld District Court. Combined with case Nos. 2024CV30033 and 2024CV30470 also filed in Weld District Court. (US Eagle Federal Credit Union files cross-claim for $45 million; judge places Future Legends Sports Complex structures in receivership).

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