County of Alameda v. N.V. Heathorn Inc., U.S. Fidelity & Guaranty Company
Published: Jan. 25, 2005 | Result Date: Oct. 20, 2004 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 2001021935 Verdict – $0
Judge
Court
Alameda Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Kris A. Cox
(Moscone Emblidge & Otis LLP)
Harold J. Wulfsberg
(Burke, Williams & Sorensen LLP)
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Patricia D. Galloway
(technical)
Douglas Rapp
(technical)
Defendant
James Klewer
(technical)
Kenji P. Hoshino
(technical)
Dean Hodge
(technical)
Facts
N.V. Heathorn Inc., of San Leandro, was awarded a public works contract by Alameda County in August 2000 in which it agreed to construct a new chiller building and upgrade the boiler room in Highland Hospital as part of the county's effort to retrofit and expand the hospital. The county terminated N.V. Heathorn on April 10, 2001, claiming that the project was proceeding too slowly.
Damages
The County of Alameda sought breach of contract damages and treble damages under the False Claims Act. N.V. Heathorn sought payment under the contract.
Result
The jury found that the county had no justification for terminating N.V. Heathorn, and held for the defense. It awarded N.V. Heathorn its requested damages of $894,238 on the cross-complaint.
Other Information
On the county's motion, Heathorn's damages were limited to termination for convenience measure of damages defined in the contract. The county filed a motion for new trial to correct the jury's awarded damages to the calculation provided in the contract.
Deliberation
one day
Poll
10-2
Length
11 weeks
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