Orange County jury awards $2 million in $103-million damages request

A three-month trial over a Southern California freeway construction project ended late Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court with a split verdict that awarded nearly $5 million to the plaintiff and just a fraction the $103.7 million sought by the defendant on a cross complaint.

It was an epic battle between an architectural firm and a contracting and construction team hired to add lanes to State Route 91 in Riverside County, and the jury's verdict left Marion T. Hack, a partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP, declaring victory.

"This was our best possible scenario; let's put it that way," Hack said. "In our wildest dreams, I did not suspect we would get this."

Hack represented URS Corp., which was hired to design the 91 project for Atkinson/Walsh Joint Venture, a combination of Atkinson Contractors LP and Walsh Construction Co. URS initiated the case in 2017 by suing Atkinson/Walsh for breach of contract over missed payments. Atkinson/Walsh then counter-sued URS and the firm AECOM for professional negligence, breach of contract and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.

Represented by Hanson Bridget LLP partner Scott E. Hennigh, Atkinson/Walsh's attorneys sought to turn the tables on URS through a bet-the-company damages claim that first was estimated to be "not less than $70 million," according to the counter-complaint filed in 2017. URS's contract was for $60 million, Hack said, "so they were being sued for more than the entire contract."

By the time trial began in July, damages had been revised to more than $100 million, according to Hennigh's trial brief, which said URS filed the original lawsuit as "a bad faith secret sneak attack complaint to posture itself as the plaintiff "

Jurors apparently didn't see the case the same way. They rejected Atkinson/Walsh's contract and interference claims and awarded just $2 million for professional negligence. They also awarded URS nearly all its damages request -- approximately $4.9 million. And because it was for a breach of contract claim, URS can now recover attorney fees from Atkinson/Walsh.

"Astronomical is the right word for it," Hack said. "It's going to be over $5 million."

The case included 50 trial days and 45 witnesses, including approximately 15 experts for URS. Hack said it was the longest trial ever handled by Judge Frederick P. Horn, who retired in 2017 but still occasionally handles trials. Pepper Hamilton's Raina Richter, Luke N. Eaton and John H. Conrad worked the trial with Hack.

In a phone call Wednesday, Hennigh said he's pleased jurors found in his favor on Atkinson/Walsh's professional negligence claim against URS, but he said they "struggled with damages and the quantification of damages."

"We wish the jury would have given a bigger award, but we think that they were correct in finding negligence," said Hennigh, who worked the trial with Hanson Bridgett's Brian M. Schnarr, David Buoncristiani and Garrett M. Mott.

Hack said the negligence finding wasn't surprising because "this was under a situation we had conceded." But the small damage award and the rest of the verdict makes it a big win, she said.

"It's very difficult to get defense verdicts of this nature; it's just extremely hard," Hack said. "I've done it before, but this is significant."

Hack said Atkinson/Walsh "really did post losses, but they were never able to adequately explain to the jury why my client URS was responsible for the losses."

Hennigh said URS' designs "were late, wrong and out of sequence, and that made the work more expensive."

Still, Atkinson/Walsh "did everything in its power to get the project across the finish line, and did so at a massive expense exceeding the contract value," according to Hennigh's trial brief.

Hennigh said he's still evaluating the verdict and the possibilities moving forward.

"There's always the possibility of an appeal," he said. URS Corp. v. Atkinson/Walsh Joint Venture et al., 2017-00907526 (O.C. Super. Ct., file March 9, 2017).