SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Dan Haugen, a writer for the Argus Leader recently reported on a fistfight on the roof of the Empire Mall that had Kim Halverson, a technician with Empire HVAC, a Sioux Falls heating and air conditioning contractor, sentenced to one year in prison for assaulting a competing company's worker during a confrontation above the shopping mall this past summer. Empire HVAC once handled all repair and maintenance for the mall's ventilation systems, however, the company had recently lost the major contract bid to Carrier Commercial Service of Omaha, said prosecutor Tom Hensley.

According to a pending civil lawsuit complaint, Empire HVAC employees harassed Carrier workers in an effort to discourage them from doing their jobs at the mall. Halverson's lawyer denied the intimidation allegation in court filings. James Kirlin, a Carrier employee who filed the lawsuit, claims the situation escalated when, according to the complaint, Kelly Cawthorne, owner of Empire HVAC, angrily accused Kirlin of "taking food out of our babies' mouths."