After a federal jury took just four hours to rule that HDR Engineering’s design did not cause the cracks at Tampa Bay Water’s six-year-old reservoir, the utility was left with nothing for its gamble on a $30-million settlement offer but an estimated $24 million in legal bills. Nevertheless, the utility is planning to roll the dice again and seek a new trial.
The latest legal move, announced April 16, precedes a motion to appeal, says the utility. In 2008, Gerald Seeber, the utility’s then-new general manager who advised his board of directors to proceed with the lawsuit against HDR, remains adamant that TBW was right to blame the engineer for the cracks.