City sets stage for legal action over delayed Tim Hortons Field stadium

The case of Tim Hortons Field stadium a much-delayed project that missed more than seven completion deadlines and the city has officially made it to court.

The city has issued a notice of action in Hamilton Superior Court aboutthe stadium project, which was built by a construction consortium called Ontario Sports Solutions. Infrastructure Ontario (IO) oversaw the $145-millionproject.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have filed a similar court action.

The city said in a statement late Thursday that it had issued the notice "in respect to the construction of Tim Hortons Field"to preserve its legal rights.

"The city continues to work with all parties in an effort to settle the construction and delay matters," it reads.

The notice names Ontario Sports Solutions and its principlesKenaidan Contracting Ltd. and Bouygues Building Canada, as well as the 2015 Pan Am organizing committee, IO and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Football Club.

The claim asks for about $35 million in damages for breach of contract, negligence and misrepresentation when it came to the planning, procurement, design, construction, project management and other aspects of the stadium.Of that, $14 million are damage awardsthat would be passed on to the Ticats.

City manager Chris Murray wouldn't elaborate on Friday.

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"There's little more I can say about where we are except we've preserved our rightsand remain at the table."

A lawsuit isn't necessarily pending, IO says

It's not a surprising turn of events in the matter of the stadium, which saw numerous delays since the consortium started work in 2013.

IO initially predicted the consortiumwould finish the stadium by June 30, 2014, in time for the Ticats to play that year'sseason there.

But it saw several delays after that. It was still under construction when it opened, partially completed, on Sept. 1, 2014 for the Canadian Football League's Labour Day Classic. It officially opened on May 22, 2015, more than 10 months overdue.

The city says the stadium still has deficiencies.

For its part, IO called the city's notice "a normal part of the legal process to prevent expiry of limitation periods." It"does not necessarily mean a lawsuit will follow," said an emailedstatement from IO president Bert Clark, which called the stadium a "world-class facility."

Ticats suit names the city

The Ticats have also filed a notice of action, citing breach of contract, negligence and other factors. It also says that IO misrepresented the project.

"IOmade negligent misrepresentations in relation to the design, construction, and completion of the stadium," the notice reads.

The Ticats noticeincludesthe Pan Am committee, IO, Ontario Sports Solutions and the City of Hamilton "as those responsible for the procurement, design and construction of Tim Hortons Field."

"This notice is a routine court document that preserves the legal rights of the Tiger-Cats and we will not be providing further details at this time to allow discussions between the parties to proceed," the team said.

It's not the first time the stadium has been at the centre of a court case. For example, a subcontractor, the Lancaster Group, claimedin a lawsuit last year that theproject was mismanaged from the outsetand that major defects to the structural steel of the stadium drove up costs and delayed the stadium's completion.