Facts

Plaintiffs are the owner and developer of the Sharp Rees-Stealy medical office building located in Rancho Bernardo.

The design of the medical office building was completed in 2000. Construction of the medical office building was completed in 2002. At some later date, the medical office building allegedly suffered distress related to soils movement. From 2006 through 2009, plaintiffs engaged various forensic consultants to investigate the cause of the distress to the building as well as a general contractor to conduct various repairs and/or fixes. In Aug. of 2009, plaintiffs filed suit against the design team - the two soils engineers (URS and Doe Company), the structural engineer, the civil engineer, and the architect - as well as the general contractor.

Plaintiffs noted problems with their office building as early as 2001 and claimed that they did not know or have sufficient information to bring the lawsuit until 2009.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiffs alleged that defendants' design and construction of the medical office building fell below the standard of care and that plaintiffs had been damaged as a result.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
Defendants contended that their respective design and construction of the medical office building met the standard of care. Additionally, defendants contended that plaintiffs' claims were time-barred.

Settlement Discussions

Prior to trial, defendants Barnhart Inc. and Rick Engineering Company settled for $50,000 each while defendant Doe Company settled for $350,000. Before trial, plaintiffs demanded that URS Corporation pay $1,400,000 in settlement. URS corporation declined that offer and proceeded to trial before a jury in Judge Meyer's department of the San Diego Superior Court. After four days of trial and before the defense put on its case, plaintiffs offered to settle the case with URS Corporation for $100,000. URS Corporation offered $75,000 and settled its case with the plaintiffs for that amount in exchange for a dismissal with prejudice and a waiver of California Civil Code section 1542 in addition to a mutual release. Plaintiffs made their first settlement offer of $25,000 to defendant Simon Wong Engineering Inc. ("SWE") after the fourth day of trial. Simon Wong Engineering accepted the settlement offer and placed it on the record on the fifth day of trial. Defendant Tucker Sadler Architects agreed to pay $35,000. The settlements concluded the case.

Damages

In deposition, plaintiffs' diminution in value expert opined that plaintiffs' damages were in excess of $15 million. In their opening statement, plaintiffs contended that damages of $2,924,992 should be awarded against defendants which represented the monies spent by plaintiffs on repairs to date. Additionally, plaintiffs claimed that they were entitled to damages in the form of diminution in value as well as cost of repair at time of trial.

Result

Simon Wong Engineering agreed to pay $25,000 to plaintiffs in exchange for a Request for Dismissal With Prejudice as well as a mutual waiver of Civil Code section 1542.