Davenport building owner files lawsuit against engineering firm following collapse - Wold's Davenport Hotel LLC owned the apartment building at 324 Main Street, and is accusing Select Structural Engineering

Wold's Davenport Hotel LLC owned the apartment building at 324 Main Street, and is accusing Select Structural Engineering, a company that inspected the building in the months before the collapse, of several things, including negligence and breach of contract.

“At no time did Select Structural opine that the defects in the west wall would require an evacuation of the building,” Wold’s suit states. “To the contrary, Select Structural expressly stated that the Davenport Hotel was not in danger of collapse and that no evacuation was necessary.”

According to the Times, Select has not yet answered the allegations in Wold’s suit. The new suit was filed Thursday as part of an answer to another suit in which Wold, Davenport Hotel LLC and Select are among the defendants, according to Scott County court records.

The May 28 collapse resulting in 3 people dead, another losing a leg, in many losing their homes and belongings.

The article goes on to say that according to the suit, starting in February, Wold had Select inspect the building and relied on the company’s expertise and advice in his efforts to maintain the building. The inspections were carried out by Select employee David Valliere.

The suit alleges that Select owed Wold and Davenport Hotel LLC a duty of care.

Davenport Hotel LLC is also named as a plaintiff in the suit, and that Wold is listed as the registered agent of the LLC on the Iowa Secretary of State’s website.

“Select Structural and Valliere failed to use ordinary care, and in particular failed to perform their services with the degree of skill, care and learning ordinarily possessed and exercised by members of the engineering profession in good standing in similar circumstances,” the suit states.

Select’s failures, according to Wold’s suit include:

- Failure to identify the risk of collapse due to defects in the west wall.

- Failure to “identify a risk to the safety or property of residents of the building.”

- Failure to suggest repairs that would mitigate the danger of a collapse.

According to the suit, Select’s negligence left Wold unaware of the danger posed by the west wall and of appropriate measures to lessen that danger.