By Ray King
A lawsuit has been filed against a Georgia based engineering firm, two of its engineers and an insurance company, alleging malpractice that resulted in a significant cost increase in the construction of the hotel adjacent to the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
Public Private Partnership Corp., d/b/a the P3 Group filed the suit against Proficient Engineering, LLC, (PEI), J. Paul Kenney, the CEO of PEI, Brian M. Armenta, the managing member of PEI, and Arch Insurance Company, a company that is doing business in and throughout Arkansas.
According to the complaint, in February 2024, PEI entered into a contract to prepare and provide mechanical drawings for the construction of the hotel. PEI was insured by Arch Insurance Company related to the project. P3 was also insured by Arch Insurance company related to the project.
In August 2024, PEI prepared and submitted the mechanical drawings to P3 for the project and P3 relied on the professional expertise and mechanical drawings in pricing the cost of the project.
In January 2025 construction on the hotel began and in June 2025 PEI, Kenney and Armenta prepared and submitted a revised set of mechanical drawings which, according to the lawsuit, was necessary because PEI discovered an error in their original drawings.
By the time the error was discovered, the project had been under construction for about six months and significant work had already been performed. Moreover, the budget and contract price for the project had been set for more than six months.
The revised mechanical drawings resulted in a significant change in the scope of the project and additional expenses of $460,099.24 which directly caused damage to P3.
Also, PEI, Kenney and Armenta refused to continue working on the project so a new engineer had to be hired, creating an additional expense for P3.
The P3 group is requesting a jury trial and damages in an amount equal to the expense to correct the error, for the delay in the project, and for having to hire a new engineer, with the specific amount to be determined at trial.
The case has been assigned to Second Division Circuit Judge Rob Wyatt.
