Constellation sues firm over work on its jet

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Constellation Brands Inc. wants an aircraft-refurbishing company to repay it for damage the Perinton-based firm claims the refurbishing firm did to its $18.5 million corporate jet.
Constellation Leasing LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary through which Constellation Brands acquired a Dassault-Breguet Mystere Falcon 900b jet in 2006, filed a lawsuit accusing Oxford Aviation Inc. of Oxford, Maine, of doing more than $500,000 worth of damage to the airplane in a botched attempt to install a table last year.
The Constellation jet is a 12-seat, three-engine model built in 1988, the aircraft’s Federal Aviation Administration registration shows. Constellation Leasing states in its court complaint that the company paid $17 million for the jet. Due to its relative fuel efficiency, the Dassault-Breguet corporate jet is in high demand and has since gone up in value, so the airplane is insured for $18.45 million, the legal brief states.
Constellation hired Oxford Aviation to redo the airplane’s interior, agreeing to pay $438,774, the court complaint states. The Maine firm was hired to strip and reupholster seats and window casings, put in new carpet, install countertops, refinish cabinets in the cabin and bathroom, and put in a new table.
In the course of installing the new table in a starboard rear cabin, Constellation claims, the Oxford Aircraft crew drilled into the jet’s pressure vessel. That misstep, Constellation alleges, shaved some $525,000 off the airplane’s value and along with Oxford’s having generally “approached the work in a disorganized and rushed fashion” caused Constellation to lose confidence in the Maine company and to find other parties to repair the pressure vessel damage and finish the refurbishing job.
Actual costs Constellation claims to have borne as a result of the table installation mishap total $43,732, including $26,959 to repair the damaged pressure vessel and finish work Oxford Aviation allegedly left undone and $9,206 to charter alternative transportation while the Constellation corporate jet was in the shop.
Michael Martin, Constellation vice president for corporate communications, declined to comment because the matter is in litigation.
Oxford Aviation president James Horowitz did not respond to a request for comment.
Constellation’s complaint asks damages in an unspecified amount. No court dates are yet scheduled in the case.

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01/02/2009 (C) Rochester Business Journal