Contractor for a Unit in Hutton Centre Sued

The owners of the newest Hutton Centre office building in Santa Ana have sued Equidon Contractors of Irvine and nine individuals for $1.2 million, claiming, among other things, that the defendants failed to complete the building and “skimmed” project money that should have gone to subcontractors.

Equidon Contractors’ parent company, meantime, has filed for bankruptcy liquidation, and Equidon Contractors,itself, is going out of business, despite a public announcement in late October that it intended to continue taking new orders.

Word of Equidon Contractors’ decision to close down came Friday from Norman G. Schmitt, who said he was hired in October to wind down the construction company’s work.

The parent, Equidon Companies, which did business as Equidon Investment Builders, filed a petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Nov. 25 to liquidate its operation, said Marc J. Winthrop of Newport Beach, bankruptcy lawyer for Equidon Companies.

Winthrop said Equidon Contractors also may file a bankruptcy petition to help it cease operations, but he could not say if the lawsuit filed Thursday in Orange County Superior Court would force the filing.

“We are in financial straits,” Schmitt said about Equidon Contractors. “We have several projects near completion and are in the process of winding down the business. We intend to bring the company to a halt in a businesslike and professional manner, (and) we are attempting to pay our debts.”

Equidon Contractors “has had a good reputation,” he said. It has built about $250 million worth of properties since 1980 and has been working on such high-profile office projects as the Irvine Co.’s Jamboree Center and French & McKenna Co.’s Atrium, both in Irvine.

In winding down, Equidon Contractors has returned some projects to their owners for completion and is close to completing others, such as a Mercedes-Benz office-showroom in Hollywood, Winthrop said.

The suit, which seeks $200,000 in general damages and $1 million in punitive damages, was filed Thursday in Orange County Superior Court by Schneider/Hutton Associates Inc. and Hutton Centre 3, owners of a 10-story black-glass office building Equidon built in Hutton’s Santa Ana office park.

Among the nine individuals sued were John B. Parker, former chairman of Equidon Companies, and Douglas A. Burton, former chief executive officer of Equidon Contractors. A spokesman for Parker said he could not comment because he had not seen the lawsuit yet. Burton was out of town and unavailable for comment.

The owners claim Equidon Contractors and the individuals failed to finish the building at MacArthur Boulevard and the Costa Mesa Freeway, failed to supervise work or keep adequate records and exceeded their budget. The suit also accuses Equidon and the other defendants of taking money for themselves that should have gone to subcontractors and suppliers.

Parker had announced in mid-October that the glut of new office buildings was the reason he was abandoning Equidon Companies in favor of reviving his family’s Parker Properties to concentrate on property leasing and management.