James Cape receivership case dismissed

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A receivership case against James Cape & Sons Co., which went out of business in 2005, was dismissed Monday after six years in the court system.

Cape, which was a Racine road building company, was listed as the debtor in the case, which involved 114 creditors, including the cities of New Berlin and La Crosse.

La Crosse City Attorney Peter Kisken said Thursday the city had a relatively small claim in the case and he is not sure what the dismissal will mean.

Cape in February settled a related civil case in which the company alleged that a former employee and two other construction firms participated in a bid-rigging scheme from 1997 to 2004, which influenced bids on $224.4 million in contracts. Details of the settlement in the civil case have not been released.

The civil suit claimed the conspiracy “deprived James Cape of being awarded multimillion dollar public and private construction contracts, which would have resulted in substantial profits to James Cape. The defendants conspired to take work from James Cape for the defendants’ benefit and to James Cape’s detriment.”

According to a previously reported study commissioned by Cape’s attorneys for the civil case, $82.7 million of the contracts in question went to Holmen-based Streu Construction Co., which is no longer in business; $67.1 million went to Detroit-based Vinton Construction Co.; and $26.4 million went to Cape.

The former Cape project manager accused of taking part in the bid-rigging scheme is Daniel Beaudoin.

Attorney Michael Polsky, the appointed receiver in the recently dismissed receivership case, did not immediately return calls for comment.

Judge Dennis Barry, who oversaw the conclusion of the receivership case, was found dead Thursday morning of an apparent suicide, according to Racine County Medical Examiner Tom Terry.

Barry, 62, was pronounced dead at 9:15 a.m. Thursday. Terry said the judge was found along the bank of a river running through Lincoln Park in Racine County. Barry took over the receivership case in August 2010, according to online court records, through standard judicial rotations, which occur every two years in Racine County.