Confidential
Settlement – $915,000Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Kenneth S. Grossbart
(Abdulaziz Grossbart & Rudman)
Defendant
David A. Gomes
(Gomes, Hirshik & Hummel)
Facts
The plaintiff developer/contractor was constructing approximately 137 single family homes. In mid-1996 the
plaintiff entered into several subcontracts, one of which was with defendant trenching contractor and defendant
soils engineer.
The utilities installation contractor was to perform all labor and materials for the installation of all sewer lines, water lines and storm drain lines for Phase I of the construction project. The work entailed the trenching of the main line within the streets of the project, as well as the lateral trenches to each and every home.
The soils engineer was retained to test the compaction of the re-compacted soil. All areas of soils compaction tests passed and were certified by the developer soils engineer. In late 1996 and early 1997, subsidence occurred within the streets and in the areas where the trenching was performed.
Over a period of time, further subsidence occurred to a point in time that it was determined that the trenches had to be entirely re-excavated and all of the work had to be redone. Prior to the re-excavation of the trenches, many of the areas were again retested by the soils engineer, only to find that many of the areas had now failed to meet the minimum required compaction percentage.
The plaintiff had to hire a new and different contractor to excavate all of the trenches and correct the work.
Settlement Discussions
The case was mediated before Gig Kyriacou. There were four mediations sessions over several months, resulting in the reported settlement.
Other Information
The settlement was reached approximately three years after the case was filed.
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