CHRISTIAN COUNTY

Missing materials from Pensmore Castle used in house, swimming pool, lawsuit says

Giacomo Bologna
GBOLOGNA@NEWS-LEADER.COM

The owner of Pensmore Castle filed a lawsuit earlier this year, claiming the mansion was shorted more than 70,000 pounds of crucial steel fiber.

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Now he says he knows where it went.

The steel fiber meant for Pensmore was used in multiple construction projects from 2011 to 2014, including a Shell Knob home and a Chestnut Ridge swimming pool, according to newly public court documents.

The lawsuit claims Don Shuler, an employee of the company that mixed the concrete, profited from the scheme and threatened to fire workers who raised objections to shorting steel from Pensmore. Shuler was fired in February 2013, the lawsuit said.

The shorting scheme is at the center of a $63 million lawsuit. Now the owner of Pensmore Castle, Steven T. Huff, wants the 72,000 square foot castle in Highlandville torn down and rebuilt.

"Pensmore was to be the model, designed to change the very nature of safety and energy standards in constructing schools, hospitals and homes," the lawsuit said.

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Key to Pensmore's structural integrity is a steel fiber alternative to rebar, called Helix, the lawsuit said, but nearly a third of the Helix required for Pensmore never made it into the concrete.

A lawyer for the concrete companies named in the lawsuit — Monarch Cement Company, of Humboldt, Kansas, and its Springfield subsidiary, City Wide Construction Products — has previously disputed the claims of the lawsuit.

Shuler purported to be an authorized dealer of Helix, the lawsuit said, and bought about $7,000 of Helix himself. But Helix taken from Pensmore made it into multiple construction projects from 2011 to 2014, according to allegations levied in the lawsuit.

One of Shuler's construction jobs was for the Chief Financial Officer of City Wide Construction Products, the documents said. The lawsuit said the CFO wanted to build a house in Shell Knob modeled after Pensmore.

However, the house was not only modeled on Pensmore, the lawsuit said, it actually contained steel that was meant to go into Pensmore. The lawsuit claims the CFO knew where the steel was coming from.

The newly public court documents are part of an amended complaint which was filed after depositions were taken of people involved with building Pensmore Castle.

The lawsuit was originally spurred after a whistleblower allegedly came forward to Pensmore's owner, saying he personally saw that Helix was being shorted from the concrete and that he was wracked with guilt over it.

The amended complaint went into more detail about the employee who allegedly blew the whistle.

"The shorting scheme is more widespread than even the whistleblower knew, extending to the highest levels of defendants' companies," the lawsuit said. "The whisteblower was challenged and tested through harsh questioning. Put simply, Pensmore did not want to believe him."

The lawsuit said scientific testing confirms the whistleblower's claims and a truck driver at City Wide attested to the whisteblower's truthfulness.

"Even Shuler admitted that he has no reason to question the whistleblower's motives in disclosing the shorting scam," the lawsuit said.

Michael Callahan, the attorney for Monarch Cement Company and City Wide Construction Products, has previously disputed the claims of the lawsuit.

"(The companies) are known for their high-quality products and longtime commitment to customer service," Callahan had written in a statement. "They will defend their hard-earned reputations against the plaintiff's allegations all the way through trial, if necessary."

An email was sent to Callahan Tuesday, and he did not immediately respond.

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