What Was Rio School District (RSD) in Ventura County Thinking?
How could they morally justify not releasing the contractor’s retention? My first six months in the surety business, as a surety underwriter for Chubb, I was taught the purpose and intent of retention. Apparently that training alone was enough to have given RSD something to think about. You don’t have to be a surety/construction professional to understand that what RSD was doing was wrong.
They refused to release the contractor’s money, as a means to create a state of duress for them, so they would settle for less then they were entitled to. It is very transparent, that is all they were doing. If one withholds food and water from someone, they eventually cave in. Cash is the life blood of a business, and RSD and their attorneys know this. RSD never stopped to ask, morally are we doing the right thing? Thank goodness for our judicial system.
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