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Appellant Court Affirms Award to Architect

In 2009, Tom Butt, FAIA, LEED AP, testified as an expert witness on the standard of care in an arbitration in Los Angeles on behalf of architect, Kelly Sutherlin McLeod (Kelly Sutherlin McLeod Architecture, Inc., et al. v. Michael D. Schneickert). McLeod had sued Schneickert for unpaid fees, and Schneickert responded with a $1 million negligence complaint. The project was a rehabilitation of a historic home at 1330 Hillcrest Avenue, Pasadena, that cost at least $8 million and perhaps as much as $13 million. The arbitrator awarded McLeod 100,000

in damages for unpaid architect fees and costs and $250,000 in punitive damages and ordered the defendant Schneickert to issue a retraction of defamatory statements he had publicly made about McLeod.

Schneickert’s claims against McLeod were denied. Schneickertappealed, first to the Superior Court and finally to the Court of Appeal of The State of California Second Appellate District Division Four. The Court of Appeal, in a published opinion, upheld the arbitrator’s award and made one change to the form of retraction to omit the word “false” because it “infringes on Schneickert's constitutional right of free speech.