The City of Whitehorse is denying allegations that it never paid a local architecture firm for its services and that it breached their contract.
The city filed its statement of defence to Yukon Supreme Court late last month, and asked that the case be thrown out.
In its statement of claim filed to the court in August, architecture firm Kobayashi + Zedda says it signed a contract with the city in 2022 to design renovations at Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre. The renovations were for the city’s planned upgrades to the centre ahead of hosting the Arctic Winter Games in 2026. In total, the work was expected to cost $800,000.
The company alleges that the city breached the terms of the contract by awarding it to a third-party.
In its statement of defence, the city says it terminated its contract with Kobayashi + Zedda lawfully and that it did not breach the contract when it hired a third party in November 2024.
The city claims that Kobayashi + Zedda was in default of the contract, because, among other reasons, it failed to complete services on schedule and did not provide reasonable or complete cost estimates for the work.
The city says that it informed the company of the defaults and terminated the contract after it did not correct them.
The company also claims that it sent the city two invoices for its work in 2024, but the city never paid. It also says the city never provided an explanation for the unpaid invoices, despite Kobayashi + Zedda’s “repeated attempts” to find out why it was not paid.
The city claims the invoices it received from Kobayashi + Zedda were “incorrect,” because the company failed to complete some of the services it invoiced for and other services listed in the invoice were not agreed upon in the contract. It says it informed the company that the invoices were incorrect, but it failed to provide accurate invoices.
Kobayashi + Zedda is asking for over $347,000 for the unpaid invoices, plus damages for breach of contract.
None of the allegations have been tested in court.