Englewood developer says it didn’t lift local architect’s plans
A local homebuilder that is being accused of lifting floor plans said an architecture firm is trying to take credit for everyday designs, such as connecting a kitchen to a dining room.
Lokal Homes, of Englewood, turned a former Colorado Department of Transportation regional office at 1980 S. Holly St. into The Hub at Virginia Village in 2021. Listings there range in price from $ 550,000 for 1,240 square feet to $ 785,000 for 2,150 square feet.
The first architect on that project was Woodley Architectural Group out of Littleton, which sued Lokal in a Denver federal court on Nov. 13. Woodley accused Lokal of reusing Woodley’s plans on two townhouse projects in Colorado Springs without permission or payment.
But in a countersuit that it filed Jan. 9, Lokal had a different story to tell.
Lokal said it found Woodley’s plans for the interior and exterior of The Hub “disappointing.” So, it didn’t use the exterior concepts at all and modified the interior designs to the point that they were “not substantially similar” to Woodley’s. It then used those plans at its townhouse projects in Colorado Springs and hired a different architect for The Hub.
It still paid Woodley $ 180,000 for its work, an amount Lokal found “excessive” but handed over “in order to maintain a positive business relationship,” the developer said. Lokal didn’t pay the $ 142,000 in reuse fees that Woodley later sent invoices for, Lokal acknowledges.
The question for U. S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney is whether Lokal’s modified plans violate Woodley’s copyrights. Woodley said that they do; Lokal said they are so different that they do not. Woodley’s plans call for a diagonal hallway and Lokal’s do not, for example.
Woodley’s “floorplans included standard elements such as a garage on the lower level, a kitchen adjacent to a dining room, a great room and powder room,” Lokal said. “… Standard elements and standard arrangements of elements receive no copyright protection.”
Lokal is asking that Woodley’s lawsuit be thrown out and that the architectural firm be ordered to pay all attorney fees and court costs that Lokal has incurred defending itself.
Attorneys for both sides declined to discuss the countersuit in January.
Lokal is represented by James Juo, Thomas Howard and Kammie Cuneo from the Thomas Howard firm in Louisville.
Woodley’s lawyers are Kris Kostolansky and Marnier Leblanc in the Denver office of Lewis Roca, plus Louis Bonham from Osha Bergman Watanabe & Burton in Houston.