Trial begins in suit against mall owner

A Spokane County Superior Court jury is being asked to decide whether the owner of the River Park Square mall owes its former management firm millions of dollars for work done through late 2002.

The trial began this week in the lawsuit filed in 2002 by RWR Management Inc. against the mall’s development firms and its president, Elizabeth “Betsy” Cowles. Bob Robideaux, who managed the mall from 1988 until November 2002, said that work took up an increasing amount of his company’s time until it was its only job.

Plans for redevelopment were discussed as early as 1992, and the city began negotiations with the mall developer to participate in the project in 1995.

Attorneys for the developer contended Thursday that Robideaux was the coordinator, or “quarterback,” on the project for the mall owners from 1995 on, answerable only to Cowles.

“Absolutely not,” Robideaux said during afternoon testimony. “I was the waterboy in 1995-96. I was the one carrying messages to Betsy.”

His status did change and his responsibility grew in 1997 when he was named project director, he added.

In late 2002, the development firm notified Robideaux that his management contracts would be terminated the following July.

Robideaux’s firm was terminated the day after he filed his lawsuit..

Robideaux said he expected the mall development firms to indemnify – provide legal protection – his firm against any claims connected with the redevelopment of the mall and its attached garage, even though various agreements and contracts do not spell out such protection.

“I was always under the impression we did have indemnification,” he said.

After it opened in 1999, the financially strapped garage became embroiled in a series of legal disputes that name Robideaux and the developer, the city, other local agencies and their advisers. Eventually all the parties had to hire their own attorneys to handle lawsuits that are still pending in state and federal courts.

The mall is owned and operated by affiliates of Cowles Publishing Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

The trial is expected to conclude late next week.