With settlement talks unsuccessful and a trial two months away, RiNo’s Source Hotel claims to have security footage showing its neighbor is still sending dangerous dust its way.
“The security camera at the Source has been picking up these emissions,” its lawyer, Stacy Carpenter, said at a Feb. 11 hearing. “Thousands and thousands of hours of surveillance.”
“We did not have this level of evidence of continuing emissions until all of this camera video – until we got to see all of it come together, which has been recently,” she added.
Early last year, the Source’s owners sued Mountain Cement Co., which has long operated a plant just to the east, for $3.2 million. The Source said that figure is what it will cost to repair damage to its HVAC systems caused by cement dust emissions that surpass state limits.
Mountain Cement has called those claims exaggerated and repeatedly assured Judge Sarah Wallace that it is working with state regulators to lower emissions. Last spring, Wallace sided with the plant and declined to impose further limits on Mountain Cement emissions.
Now, with a five-day trial set for April 20, the Source is complaining about another uptick in dust at its food hall and market while Mountain Cement is, again, pushing back on such claims.
“What’s really going on is they are trying to generate leverage that they have not had to date through these late-breaking (allegations),” MCC attorney Mark Champoux said Feb. 11.
The Source, which was purchased from RiNo developer Zeppelin by Stockdale Capital Partners for $70 million in 2022, wants Wallace to let it seek punitive damages from Mountain Cement. It points to internal Mountain Cement emails that show residents of the Silver Square Lofts, at 3377 Blake St. and farther from the plant than the Source, complaining about dust.
“I have major concerns other than cars that have cement dust caked on them,” a Silver Square resident named Kimberly emailed the company in November 2023, according to a copy of her email obtained by BusinessDen in a records request. “This is not healthy to breathe in.”
“This was due to an operational anomaly,” MCC responded, and offered free car washes.
The Source also obtained a copy of a snarky complaint one of its guests lodged with state investigators after watching dust plumes waft from Mountain Cement to his room.
“My larger concern is the lack of accountability to the diners in the restaurants,” he wrote. “All that cement dust is getting in their food. Might make for a thicker creme brulee.”
Wallace will decide in early March whether the Source can seek punitive damages from Mountain Cement at April’s trial. If so, that trial will be rescheduled for sometime after Wallace switches to a different division of Denver District Court as part of a routine rotation. Mountain Cement believes the Source may be stalling, since Wallace previously ruled against the hotel.
“I’ll be candid, your honor: We have a concern that the plaintiffs are looking for a different decision-maker in this case, whether that is a jury or a different judge,” Champoux said.
“There is no way that Ms. Carpenter doesn’t want me to decide this case,” Wallace said sarcastically at last week’s hearing. “Everybody wants me to decide every case.”
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