The ill-fated renovation of Disney World’s Saratoga Springs Resort has led to a flurry of lawsuits from subcontractors claiming they haven’t been paid and a countersuit by Disney itself.
In the nearly eight months since the legal fight began between Validus Construction Services and Disney, at least seven subcontractors, including one last week, have sued Validus claiming they are owed a total of $1.58 million in payments, according to Orange Circuit Court documents.
“Subcontractors live on small margins and cash-flow is critical to the life or death of a small company caught between competing giants such as Disney and Validus,” said construction attorney Kevin Kelly, who represents Orlando-based GTM Painting, which sued in September over an $88,000 bill. “It’s a shame an owner such as Disney and a major contractor fight it out while the subcontractors pay the real price in terms of loss of income.”
Disney declined to comment on the pending lawsuits and planned to respond to the allegations in court. Attorneys representing the other six subcontractors declined to comment.
Validus was the general contractor in charge of a large-scale renovation of the timeshare resort near Disney Springs that’s now scheduled to be completed this summer following delays.
Validus sued Disney Vacation Club Management for breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation in July, alleging Disney was unwilling to change the project’s timeline and price tag after Validus said it discovered unexpected, major delays during construction, among other allegations.
Validus owner Nicole Wickens also accused Disney’s construction team of bullying her and demeaning her, such as when she was sent a text of a hot sauce packet, a reminder Disney was putting the heat on her company, her lawsuit said.
Disney fought back, filing a countersuit in August for more than $30,000 in Orange Circuit Court that complained of Validus’ “multiple failures,” including not paying its subcontractors on time, not meeting project deadlines and other issues.
“Because of Validus’s failure to perform, Disney was forced to hire another general contractor to fix and complete Validus’s scope of work,” Disney said in the lawsuit.
But Validus attorney Tucker Byrd called it a “domino effect” since he said Disney hadn’t paid Validus, which originally projected a $10 million profit completing the Saratoga project. Instead, Validus is now enduring massive financial losses on the project and can’t afford to pay its subcontractors, he said.
“We lost money as it is. It bled the company dry, to be honest,” Byrd said. “This should have been a glorious project, a crowning achievement in Nicole Wickens’ career. Instead, it turned out to be a disaster that darn near broke the company.”
For Disney and Validus, the legal fight is expected to cost each side more than $500,000 in attorney fees plus up to $200,000 in additional expenses if the lawsuit reaches trial, according to an October court filing.
“This definitely is not for the faint-hearted, going against Disney, which has unlimited resources,” Byrd said. “We’re definitely in this fight for the long haul ... It’s the right thing to do.”
Validus has also been sued by at least seven subcontractors who handled drywall, painting, installation of floors and doors plus other work at Saratoga.
Professional Construction disclosed some of the headaches from the project in court documents, from hiring eight additional workers to stay on schedule as it faced delays from other trades failing inspections and having to redo the work twice because of problems.
The other six businesses, which are located in Polk, Orange and Seminole counties, said they were owed amounts ranging between about $88,000 to $300,000 in their lawsuits.
Disney hired Validus to renovate more than 1,260 hotel rooms ranging from studios to grand villas across 18 buildings at the 65-acre Disney resort near the Disney Springs entertainment complex.
The $48 million project was supposed to begin in April 2019 and finish by November 2020, but during the construction, Validus said it discovered a defect that violated fire and building codes.
“This life-safety issue existed at the property for more than 15 years without having previously been corrected by Disney,” Validus alleged in its lawsuit.
Wickens previously told the Sentinel the unexpected discovery meant significantly more work since crews would have to remove walls in each of the rooms to make the necessary repairs.
Validus argued the construction should have been paused or the timeline extended but instead said Disney denied the change orders to address the defect.
Tensions bubbled between the Validus owner and Disney’s construction team. Wickens accused Disney of referring to her in derogatory words or as a “grumpy cat” as well as undermining her with her subcontractors.
Eventually, Disney terminated the Validus contract in April 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic halted many of its construction projects and closed theme parks and hotels.
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