The long and sorry saga of litigation between Tampa Bay Water and HDR Engineering over needed repairs to the six-year-old C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir has taken yet another turn for the worse as TBW’s board apparently will insist on pursuing an appeal from the federal court that hosted the jury trial TBW lost earlier this month. The estimated cost of such an appeal is up to $400,000, and TBW General Manager Gerald Seeber announced on April 16 that the utility will be filing a motion for a new trial in the case.
A federal judge granting a new trial after a jury verdict is a thing as rare as a flawless yellow diamond, but the motion is required if TBW intends to appeal the adverse verdict. No one at TBW has said what the grounds for the new trial motion might include. Federal rules prohibit TBW from raising anything on appeal that is not included in the new trial motion.