Bishop, construction company settle dispute over Bishop Gorman campus

A yearslong dispute over Bishop Gorman High School has come to an end.

The newly appointed bishop who oversees Las Vegas for the Catholic Church and J.A. Tiberti Construction Co. have settled a bankruptcy case over the 60-plus-year-old school, perhaps best known for its football team.

The case resulted from the landlord company of Bishop Gorman’s campus, a company that included some Catholic Church leaders, refusing to pay Tiberti for construction work on the building.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, and the bankruptcy court must approve the settlement.

“The diocese takes this opportunity to acknowledge with gratitude the contributions of the Tiberti family,” Bishop George Leo Thomas said in a statement Friday. “I see this as a time of new beginnings.”

The Tibertis finished construction on the $75 million Gorman campus in 2009. Members of the family are lifelong church members and alumni and donors of Bishop Gorman.

The Great Recession and deaths of key donors and figures in the construction resulted in a fight over money the Tiberti company sought from Gorman’s landlord.

The landlord lost in arbitration over the money in 2016 and owed Tiberti $28.7 million. The landlord declared bankruptcy in April 2017.

“Our hearts are in this school,” Tiberti Construction President Renaldo Tiberti said in the statement. “We look forward to continuing this relationship for generations to come.”

Contact Wade Tyler Millward at 702-383-4602 or wmillward@reviewjournal.com. Follow @wademillward on Twitter