Hemphill Construction is waging a war in court against M.A.C. Construction, M.A.C. and Associates, and their owner, Marcus Wallace. Hemphill sued in Madison County Circuit Court in 2016 for damages arising out of two projects. The amended complaint states the bonding company forced Hemphill to pay M.A.C. subcontractors "stiffed" by M.A.C. It spells out how this dispute wound up in court:
5. MAC Construction served as general contractor to the Bureau of Buildings, Grounds, and Real Property Management of the State of Mississippi for a building construction project at Jackson State University known as the Capital Centre Improvements Project (the “Project”).
6. MAC Construction procured payment and performance bonds issued by Federal Insurance Company for the Project, and for each of those bonds, Hemphill agreed to be an indemnitor along with MAC & Associates and Wallace. In fact, Federal made Hemphill’s agreement to be an indemnitor a condition to issuing any bonds for MAC Construction. A true and correct copy of each of the written indemnity agreements pertaining to the bonds issued for the Project is attached hereto collectively as Exhibit “A” and made a part hereof.
7. Once the Project began, subcontractors and/or suppliers to MAC Construction began making claims on the payment bonds issued by Federal alleging that MAC Construction had failed to pay amounts owed under the parties’ respective subcontract/purchase order.
8. As a result of the payment bond claims, Federal, MAC Construction, MAC & Associates and Hemphill investigated the claims, and agreed that certain amounts were in fact owed to each payment bond claimant. Since MAC Construction, MAC & Associates and Wallace failed and refused to pay the payment bond claimants, Hemphill did so, through Federal, pursuant to Hemphill’s obligation as indemnitor.
9. Hemphill has paid funds for which it has not been reimbursed in order to satisfy payment bond claims and otherwise fulfill its duties under the indemnity agreements, the exact amount of which is to be shown at the trial of this cause.
The assignment attached as an exhibit to the amended complaint states the paid claims are:
Mr. Wallace tried to claim that he was shielded from personal liability for acting on behalf of his two companies (His response and motion to dismiss are posted below.). However, Hemphill replied that the insurance company required Mr. Wallace to sign the contracts in his personal capacity. It cited this signature page in the indemnity agreement.
A hearing on the motion to dismiss and transfer was held in Madison County Circuit Court Wednesday. Circuit Judge Steve Ratcliff has not ruled on the motions. Attorney Robert Gibbs represents the defendants. David Ellis, Esquire, represents Hemphill Construction.
Table of Contents:
1. Docket
5. HH's memo in response to motion to dismiss
10. MW's motion to dismiss
12. MW's memo in support of motion to dismiss
16. First amended complaint
22. Indemnity agreement
30. Assignment
34. Insurance claims
51. Complaint.
27 comments:
Wallace checked with his secretary and she assured him this case has no merit, so he's off scot-free!
Ummm hello. He’s certified. Not guilty!
The only reason Hemphill would sign as indemnitor for MAC, and correct me if I am wrong, is that MAC did not have the bonding capacity(meaning assets and credit) for a job of that size. If that’s the case, why on God’s green earth would Hemphill enter into contract with him and indemnify themselves with him? The only reason I could think would be that they needed MAC’s DBE status to get the work and just “worked though” his company. That said, that was STUPID on Hemphills part. Also, for any bonding, it’s about 100% guaranteed that you have to personally indemnify yourself and your spouse personally on the indemnification agreement with the bonding company.
Let’s play ball Mr. Wallace.
I wonder how many certificates are hanging at 209 Calumet Drive. Isn’t this guy the Mayor of Edwards? What is he doing living in Madison? I guess everyone that gets all the money out of Jackson moves to Madison or Niknar county.
Looks like Lumumba may have been right when he opined MAC Construction, etc. was not qualified to do business with the City. I bet Hemphill would agree.
On another note, this is typical of the construction business. I hate to tell the boys in Florence this, but you ain't getting s--t out of MAC.
Even if the court hands you a judgement, MAC will be at the bankruptcy court before you can say Escalade !
I agree it was a stupid approach, 1:39, but knowing how MS works some arrangement like this was necessary to satisfy agencies desiring to see a minority contractor in the lead, even an unqualified one.
The complaint, filed in Madison County, alleges that Marcus Wallace, a defendant, resides in Madison County, which I suppose creates venue there. Isn't Wallace the Mayor of the Town of Edwards, MS, which is located in Hinds County? Don't you have to be a qualified elector of the Town of Edwards in order to hold the office of mayor of that municipality? Wallace has not answered the complaint but moved to dismiss him personally from the suit. If that motion is granted then venue logically would be in Hinds County, where MAC is headquartered and where the construction work took place. If his motion to dismiss is denied he will have to either admit or deny in his answer that he is a resident of Madison County.
There was an additional lawsuit filed about this time as well-
Hemphill vs. M.A.C. & Regions Bank
Allegations that Mr M.A.C. didn't follow the dual signature agreement required between he and Mr. Rula
Robert Gibbs does not work cheap- Free the Land !!
@2:21 no, apparently you don’t have to reside in the town or county in which you are elected mayor these days...we’ll not if you are of a certain ethnicity. And I bet KF won’t post this. #pelahatchieproblems.
Chump change to Mr. Rula. Richard will wear his ass out in court.
You can't get blood out of a turnip, or is it a blackberry.
Hey Hemphill, You lie down with pigs...
I'm in the construction industry. DBE is a freaking shakedown joke. Never once have I seen them contribute anything to a project, except to come in and sign the pay app. Heaven forbid you actually try to let them perform actual work on the project. Most of the time it will be poorly done and have to be re-done, increasing the cost of dealing with them even more.
FYI - federal projects are the worst as far as participation percentage requirements. It drives the cost up for the overall project significantly (your tax dollars). It's ridiculous. Let's put the contract in the name of an unqualified, incompetent contractor, so they can turn around and hire a competent contractor and get a percentage for nothing. On a $200 million federal job, that would literally be ten's of million of unnecessary costs. And we do this because of.....guilt, over shit that none of us did? Makes sense.
This won't matter but it is telling that someone like MAC is given a contract at above market rates, with huge profits and he has to do nothing but let a real business do the work. The city would be better to just give him the $675,000 he made for being black and award the job to a company that has the capacity to do the work.
MAC has not the skills, knowledge, expertise, bonding capacity,
personnel, licensing, assets or ability to do any public works job but can get them, skim profit off the top, steal money from the people doing the jobs and still act like he is someone.
His only qualification is being black.
MAC must have assets somewhere Hemphill knows about.
Mr. Rula and Mr. Mockbee are not idiots. There has to be more to this than trying to collect a debt.
Hopefully, they can get his DBE and other minority preference credentials damaged, or revoked.
Don't forget Fish and Fisher! They keep pulling these same stunts and are allowed back at the trough time and time gain! Dont blame Hemphill, they are just playing by the minority rules set by te government.If it werent for Hemphill our water lines would not have been repaired during the winter freeze this year.
MAC, Fish and Fisher the list is long!
As someone that has worked in construction for over 25 years in management positions all I have today is LOL at Hemphill. This is what you get for trying to skirt around the rules. Rule number one never indemnify someone’s bond that has no assets
I’m a CPA. One question, who was the CPA who signed off on his reviewed financials for the surety (bonding)?
You be foolin' rount, 6:30. I knows for a damn sho fack that Wallace have two trucks and many shovel and other necessari equipments. So, so much for your claim that he don't have no asset.
What we have is failure to communicate.
Most didn't believe Lovelace would come out on top with the Lost Rabbit suit either.
Like Lovelace, the boys in Florence have deep pockets as well and likely have a good reason for the suit. Maybe MAC has assets, maybe Hemphill wants to make sure MAC is out of the way for good, or maybe it's something else.
Also, UNLIKE so many attorneys in Mississippi, Mockbee doesn't take lost cause cases in order to churn and milk a client, but instead will advise when they think your $$$ is going to be wasted.
P. S. I wish there was an accurate way for JJ to post an Anonymous poll with the net worth of all posters bashing folks and companies worth tens of missions of dollars, and telling us how stupid they are. Funny, funny stuff!
Is certified the same as certifiable? Asking for a friend.
806 "..companies worth tens of missions (?) of dollars..."
Often mine is "worth tens of MISSING of dollars."
Things are really bad in Mississippi. Companies like Hemphill find great difficulty even finding a DBE qualified to do business with them. If they ever get like Atlanta or Chicago they will be looking for unqualified DBE firms like MAC to partner with to hold down the competition from really qualified DBE's. Crazy.
I’m afraid 5:07 i and 8:06 are correct...very infuriating to hear this but it’s the truth. A lot of people use this site to poke fun but when someone speaks the truth we need to pay attention. I know this because I used David Mockbee’s advice and he is one of the honest attorneys. He will tell you the truth whether you like it or not.
I have performed work at the Vicksburg ERDC and believe me, it is eaten up with Junk like what we see here. I’m a little more plain spoken but we need to get a grip with reality...THIS MINORITY PARTICIPATION AINT WORKIN!!!!
Looks to me like 1:39 nailed it - Hemphill volunteered for its problems.
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