The Seneca Valley School District and a Westmoreland County contractor are in a legal dispute over landscaping work performed at a school campus five years ago.

C.H. & D. Enterprises, of New Stanton, filed a suit last week in Butler County Common Pleas Court claiming the district didn’t pay for $85,195 in landscaping work the business performed at Ehrman Crest Elementary School and Ehrman Crest Middle School on Ehrman Road in Cranberry Township in July 2020.

The district said final payment to C.H. & D. was withheld because the company didn’t meet it’s contractual responsibilities, and the district will pursue a counterclaim because the cost of remediating the work will cost more money than the district withheld.

The suit claims C.H. & D. and the district entered into a contract that called for a general contractor to place 6 inches of topsoil at the project site before C.H. & D. began its landscaping work.

C.H. & D. said employees arrived at the site and discovered that the topsoil had not been spread over certain areas where it was supposed to landscape, according to the suit.

Despite that, C.H. & D. said it completed its landscaping work in accordance with the contract.

After the work was finished, the district told C.H. & D. about inadequate grass growth at several areas of the site, according to the suit.

Even though the inadequate growth was caused by other contractors, C.H. & D. performed additional work at the direction of the district, according to the suit.

After a meeting with district officials, C.H. & D. retained landscaping experts at significant expense, applied fertilizers and other supplements, and completed additional work it was not obligated to perform under the contract, according to the suit.

The suit claims the district has refused to pay C.H. & D. the remaining $50,567 owed under the contract and $34,628 for the additional work done at the direction of the district.

The suit alleges breach of contract, unjust enrichment and violation of the state’s Prompt Payment Act.

District solicitor Matthew Hoffman said the district withheld the final payment because the contractor didn’t fulfill its contractual responsibility to establish acceptable lawns.

“The cost of remediating CH & D’s inadequate work exceeds the sum withheld by the school district. The district intends to vigorously contest CH & D’s claims and will be asserting a counterclaim for the expected remedial costs,” Hoffman said.