VMI cadets walking to class outside of the Old Barracks. Photo courtesy of VMI Communications & Marketing
A Yorktown-based consultancy is suing the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and the firm conducting an investigation into Virginia Military Institute’s racial attitudes and practices, a contract the plaintiff unsuccessfully bid on last year.
In a civil suit filed Feb. 11 in Richmond Circuit Court, the Center for Applied Innovation LLC (CAI) seeks an injunction against Barnes & Thornburg LLP that would halt all its work on the VMI probe, and accuses SCHEV of illegally favoring the Indiana-based law firm for the $1 million contract.
According to the suit filed on CAI’s behalf by Richmond-based attorney Patrick C. Henry II, Barnes & Thornburg, which has offices around the country, was not authorized to do business in Virginia on Nov. 20, when it submitted its bid for the VMI probe following a request for proposals run by SCHEV. The company, an Indiana-based limited liability partnership (LLP), received its Virginia State Corporation Commission qualification to perform work for the state on Nov. 25, Henry argues in the suit.
