Firms deny charges in University Place suit

BOISE – Two Boise law firms and four attorneys are fighting allegations of legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty for their role in a failed attempt by the University of Idaho to build a $136 million campus extension in the state capital.

Law firms Givens Pursley and Elam & Burke, and lawyers Roy Eiguren, Ed Miller, Frank Lee and Ryan Armbruster were sued earlier this year by the Moscow-based school and its economic-development foundation for allegedly not properly informing foundation board members of potential conflicts of interest and giving inadequate advice on the propriety of loans the foundation made to the University Place project.

The firms and the lawyers denied the charges in court documents filed Tuesday in 4th District Court in Boise in response to the University of Idaho and the University of Idaho Foundation lawsuit, which seeks to recover $25 million.

“The foundation’s allegations were factually and legally incorrect regarding Givens Pursley,” said Brad Keller, who represents the law firm and two of its attorneys, Miller and Lee.

The planned three-building University Place real estate project was conceived in 1999 as a way to bolster UI’s stature in the capital and keep pace with ascendant Boise State University. But when Idaho’s economy faltered in 2002, the university and foundation made questionable loans in a failed effort to keep the project afloat.

Concern about the loans cost then-Idaho President Robert Hoover his job in 2003 and left the foundation $26 million in debt – half of which it has since repaid.

Federal and county investigations continue into the project, and Miller and Eiguren face separate hearings with the Idaho State Bar Association’s professional conduct board for allegations of conflict of interest.

Attorneys for Elam & Burke and the University of Idaho Foundation declined to comment.

Attorneys for the defendants have denied their clients breached their responsibility by not informing the foundation that borrowing from an endowment to build University Place could be illegal under Idaho law.

Eiguren, a member of the University of Idaho Foundation’s board of trustees during the University Place era, was paid by both the foundation and the development company working with the school to build University Place before plans stalled.

Defendants’ attorneys also say Idaho law that governs voluntary boards such as the foundation’s should entitle Eiguren to protection from liability. And Eiguren’s attorney, Tim Hopkins, said allegations against his client should be tossed out because the statute of limitations has run out on most of them.

“Roy Eiguren has for years been devoted to the best interest of the university and the foundation,” Hopkins said. “For him now to be singled out as someone who created the calamity of University Place is unreasonable, unwarranted and unsupported.”