Cowles firms pay $6.5 million judgment

Cowles Co. development firms have paid a $6.5 million judgment, plus 12 percent interest, to satisfy a 2004 ruling obtained by the former manager of River Park Square, court documents show.

The judgment was paid after the state Supreme Court denied a request in early March to hear the appeal of a Spokane County Superior Court jury award to Robert W. Robideaux and his wife, Karen, and their company RWR Management Inc., doing business as Robideaux & Co.

Defendants in the suit were Betsy Cowles; Citizens Realty Co.; Lincoln Investment Co. of Spokane; RPS II, LLC, doing business as River Park Square; and CPC Development Inc., a Washington corporation doing business as The Penney’s Building.

Cowles Co. holdings also include The Spokesman-Review, KHQ-TV and the Journal of Business.

Robideaux was hired by the Cowles development company to manage River Park Square in 1988 and held that position through the construction and 1999 opening of the expanded mall.

In late 2002, after he was notified his contract would not be renewed, Robideaux sued for fraud, breach of contract and bad faith, claiming he had not been adequately paid.

Robideaux claimed he was owed $1.7 million but offered to settle for $550,000, according to previously published news stories about the case.

When the case went to trial, the jury determined Robideaux had performed extra services for the development companies and set the amount he was owed at 5.5 percent of the cost of the mall’s renovation.

Robideaux, through his attorney, Robert A. Dunn, acknowledged in court papers filed on April 23 that the defendants have fully satisfied the judgment by payment of the full sum due in cash.