Mount Vernon contractor petitions for bankruptcy protection

A Mount Vernon electrical contractor has filed for bankruptcy protection citing the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and an unresolved lawsuit in which it claims it is owed $2 million.

D&D Electrical Construction Company Inc. declared $10 million to $50 million in assets and liabilities, in a Chapter 11 petition filed on Aug. 7 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, White Plains.

Sole owner Stephen Buckley stated in an affidavit that nearly three years have passed since he sued the developer of The Copper building in Manhattan. The proceedings have barely progressed, he said, and he has essentially been forced to finance $2 million of project costs for more than five years.

The Copper is a 40-floor residential structure on 1st Avenue in Murray Hill. In 2015, JDS Construction Group awarded D&D six contracts worth $21.9 million.

Including changes, the work totaled $25.2 million, according to a 2021 lawsuit D&D filed against the builder. D&D says it has been paid more than $23 million, leaving a $2 million balance.

JDS counter-sued, claiming that D&D abandoned the project and it had to spend $321,000 fixing defective work.

D&D employs 150 people and it owes more than $7.5 million to vendors, according to the bankruptcy petition, including $2.5 million to Benfield Electric Supply, in Mount Vernon.

Buckley stated that his current projects are profitable but the delays in the pending JDS lawsuit have hurt cash flow.

He said the pandemic also caused financial setbacks. He took unprofitable jobs to keep his employees working; the costs of materials escalated; and customers were slow to pay for D&D’s work.

He said he filed for bankruptcy to protect current projects and to quickly collect money owed to D&D.

Better cash flow, he said, will enable D&D to “regain its position as a premier electrical construction contractor.”