Posted on 01.19.15
Manatee County wins suit over dam construction
Source: http://www.heraldtribune.com, January 16, 2015
By: Chris Anderson
A jury has awarded Manatee County $2.2 million after it found one of the country’s top engineering firms to be negligent during repair work on the Lake Manatee Dam.
After a two-week trial, the jury deliberated for less than six hours and found that URS Corp. was negligent in its design of a cofferdam that was supposed to keep the dam’s spillway dry during repairs.
The jury found that URS Corp. was 65 percent responsible and Johnson Brothers Construction was 35 percent at fault. Because the construction company was not named in the lawsuit filed by the county, the liability for URS Corp. was reduced and the company was ordered to pay roughly $1.4 million.
URS was hired by Manatee County in 2009 to design the cofferdam and was accused of not performing a proper soil analysis at the lake where the cofferdam was built.
Sandbags were placed in the soil to keep the cofferdam secure, but the unstable soil that was not analyzed adequately allowed the sandbags to shift.
The cofferdam was removed in 2011 and repair work was not completed. The county claimed in the lawsuit it took on $2.6 million in expenses to remove the cofferdam and sought reimbursement.
Attorneys could not be reached on Friday and Manatee County’s information outreach coordinator Nicholas Azzara did not immediately return messages.
In closing arguments, attorney Robert Buesing, who represented the county, claimed URS used people who were not qualified.
Wayne Mason, the attorney who represented URS, blamed the failure on Johnson Brothers Construction.
The jury found that URS Corp. was 65 percent responsible and Johnson Brothers Construction was 35 percent at fault. Because the construction company was not named in the lawsuit filed by the county, the liability for URS Corp. was reduced and the company was ordered to pay roughly $1.4 million.
URS was hired by Manatee County in 2009 to design the cofferdam and was accused of not performing a proper soil analysis at the lake where the cofferdam was built.
Sandbags were placed in the soil to keep the cofferdam secure, but the unstable soil that was not analyzed adequately allowed the sandbags to shift.
The cofferdam was removed in 2011 and repair work was not completed. The county claimed in the lawsuit it took on $2.6 million in expenses to remove the cofferdam and sought reimbursement.
Attorneys could not be reached on Friday and Manatee County’s information outreach coordinator Nicholas Azzara did not immediately return messages.
In closing arguments, attorney Robert Buesing, who represented the county, claimed URS used people who were not qualified.
Wayne Mason, the attorney who represented URS, blamed the failure on Johnson Brothers Construction.
