Muskogee Contractor's Lawsuit Against ODOT Gets Green Light

NewsOn6.com

DENVER, CO -- The dispute between a Muskogee road contractor and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation will be aired in a federal courtroom, an appellate court ruled Friday.

Contractor George Paul Glover filed a federal lawsuit against ODOT in May of 2007, claiming his civil rights were violated when he was banned from working on state projects after being a pre qualified as a bidder for almost 30 years.

His lawsuit claims ODOT has violated his civil rights including the right to petition for redress of grievances, due process and freedom of speech.

Read The Court's Ruling

Attorneys for ODOT sought to have the lawsuit dismissed.

In what they called a "close call," the 10th Federal Court of Appeals denied the motion to dismiss Glover's lawsuit.

The Court notes in its decision that "on a number of occasions, Glover and ODOT have not seen eye-to-eye on contract terms or the quality of Glover's work. Glover has often used administrative and judicial channels to challenge ODOT's contract decisions and the adequacy of its payment."

A stretch of road on U.S. Highway 64 in Warner is where the feud between the Department of Transportation and Glover began. No one disputes that the road started falling apart in 2001, while it was still being built, but ODOT blames Glover saying he used substandard gravel from his own quarry to make the asphalt, and it accuses Glover's crews of being sloppy when they put that asphalt down.

10/20/2007 Related Story: Construction Contractor Debarred