Glendale Unified files lawsuit against architect’s estate, alleging uncompleted work

The Glendale Unified School District has filed a lawsuit seeking nearly $500,000 from the estate of an architect who ran a firm assigned to multiple facility-improvement projects across the district.

According to the lawsuit, Glendale Unified allegedly paid for work the architectural firm did not complete.

David A. Kindred Sr., of Tulsa, Okla., died at age 67 in August 2014 after a “long, courageous fight with pulmonary illness,” according to his obituary.

At the time of his death, Glendale Unified had paid his company, KPI Architects, Inc., about $2.2 million for architectural services related to facility improvements at various school sites, court records show.

Glendale Unified officials claim they did not realize there were discrepancies until after Kindred’s death, the lawsuit states.

Glendale Unified is seeking $483,813 in damages, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in Tulsa County District Court in Oklahoma, where Kindred’s estate is being administered.

The lawsuit alleges that Kindred, “and perhaps others — wrongfully used or retained the funds received by the district for architectural services allegedly performed under the KPI agreements for his personal use and/or retained those funds without paying KPI Architects Inc.’s subconsultants,” court records show.

Before Kindred’s death, Glendale Unified entered into 15 agreements with Kindred’s firm, according to the lawsuit.

Several months after Kindred’s death, Glendale school board members voted to terminate nine contracts it had at the time with KPI Architects because firm officials reportedly said they could not perform the architectural services the district needed after Kindred’s death, according to a district report.

Among them was the district’s new aquatic center. At 50 meters by 25 yards, the pool was designed to be three times the size of the current pool at Glendale High School. A new architectural firm, Newport Beach-based tBP/Architecture, was awarded a contract last month to build the aquatic center, which will replace the existing pool, with expected completion by December 2017.

Arch Pac Aquatics, a subconsultant hired to work on the aquatic center, also filed a claim seeking $66,250 against Kindred’s estate, according to court records.

Among nine contracts Glendale Unified discontinued with KPI Architects was a $220,000 project to upgrade Glendale Unified’s headquarters on Jackson Street with LED lighting and a $294,268 project to repair walkways and an underground utility tunnel at Glendale High School, according to district reports.

At the time of Kindred’s death, his estate totaled $210,626 in approximate value, according to court documents.

In his name is a Waco plane valued at $200,000, a 1998 Harley Davidson valued at $5,000, and a bank account with $5,626.98, according to court documents.

Citing pending litigation, Robert McEntire, Glendale Unified’s chief business and financial officer, said he could not comment on the case, which school officials discussed during a closed-session meeting last month.

“The district is working vigorously to protect the public funds with which we have been entrusted,” he said.

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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan