Related Links: Beers, Burgers and a Bribe? The Case Against an Expressway Official The Central Florida Expressway Authority Website With his signature on June 20, Gov. Rick Scott (R) and Florida lawmakers disbanded the scandal-plagued Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and rechristened it as the Central Florida Expressway Authority, which has a new board. Three Florida counties already have appointed new board members, and Scott will appoint the remaining ones.A grand jury indicted two board members, one for violating public-meeting laws in connection with a plan to oust former board Chairman Max Crumit. An engineer seen by many as a transparency
With his signature on June 20, Gov. Rick Scott (R) and Florida lawmakers disbanded the scandal-plagued Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and rechristened it as the Central Florida Expressway Authority, which has a new board. Three Florida counties already have appointed new board members, and Scott will appoint the remaining ones. Related Links: Beers, Burgers and a Bribe? The Case Against a Florida Expressway Official A grand jury indicted two board members, one for violating public-meeting laws in connection with a plan to oust former board Chairman Max Crumit. An engineer seen by many as a transparency advocate, he now works
The LinkedIn page for R. Scott Batterson, who IBI Group says is no longer employed by the company. Photo source: Google Earth The alleged bribe offer took place at a sports-themed pub in Orlando called Caddyshanks. Related Links: Website of New Central Florida Expressway Authority It all seemed so blithely casual. And now it’s potentially criminal.An engineering company executive and a couple of directors from the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority, plus friends, met in Orlando, Fla., at a golf-themed sports pub called Caddyshanks after work one day last July. Beers and burgers were served. Talk turned to a possible
Shale gas pipe and valves in Pennsylvania, similar to those shown in the photo above, were at the heart of a costly contract dispute. ENR Art Dept. Faced with mounting interest after losing a $24-million jury verdict in Delaware County, Pa., a pipeline company late last week reached a settlement with contractor Utility Line Services, says the attorney for the contractor.The jury in April had ordered the defendant, PVR Marcellus Gas Gathering Inc., which was recently acquired by Dallas-based Regency Energy Partners, to pay Utility Line Services about $16.5 million for the amount it was owed. Another $7.8 million was
Related Links: Judge Orders IBCS and Scarborough to Return Contractors Premium A Bold Individual Surety Claims His Coal-Backed Bonds are Rock Solid Steven Golia, a key employee of Edmund C. Scarborough’s controversial IBCS Fidelity individual surety bond business, says he has been terminated by IBCS and has filed a lawsuit seeking money he claims he is owed. The information is contained in Golia’s April lawsuit in federal district court in Philadelphia. In it, Golia provides details of his compensation and dealings with Scarborough and Charlottesville-based IBCS Fidelity. According to Golia’s complaint, during his employment from 2008 to 2012 and in the months
Photo by Janice Tuchman/ENR Conference panel experts suggest the project's technical issues may not be unique. Related Links: High-Stakes Brinksmanship at the Panama Canal Panama Canal Owners and Contractors Reach Agreement With so many different nationalities and cultures represented among its participants, the Panama Canal expansion project faces obstacles worthy of the U.N. General Assembly. Together with the canal's vital role in world shipping and to the Panamanian economy—and with the project's construction risks—it's not hard to understand how misunderstandings could have led to $1.6-billion in disputed claims, said project risk experts speaking at ENR's Global Construction Summit in New
Related Links: 2014 Global Best Projects Winners When It Comes to Safety Leadership, Watch Your Language Construction safety lapses have killed many construction workers in Vietnam during its recent economic expansion, with 5,952 accidents in 2007 alone. That year, the Can Tho Bridge, 170 kilometers south of Ho Chi Minh City in South Vietnam, collapsed during construction, killing 53 people.Those statistics loomed large in the minds of the design and contracting team for the Dragon Bridge in Da Nang, one of this year's Best Project winners.The designer and contractor took pains to produce design and erection methods that would enhance
Related Links: Link to the Perez art museum webcam. Arup and the contracting team on the Jorge M. Perez Art Museum in Miami have exchanged nasty lawsuits over a disputed bolted building canopy connection, the failure of which both sides say caused heavy erected concrete canopy beams to fall in November, 2012. The accident could have badly injured or killed workers but no one was hurt. Expensive repairs were needed.The lawsuit involves Arup USA, the New York City-based unit of the big London-based engineer.At stake are damages sought by the contractors from Arup and money Arup says it is owed
Related Links: A Bold Individual Surety Claims His Bonds Are Rock Solid Big Insurance Broker Backpedals on Offer of Individual Surety The National Association of Surety Bond Producers, a trade association of surety brokers, is claiming a major victory in its campaign against surety fraud after Maryland lawmakers failed to renew a 2006 state law that partly opened the door to the use of individual surety on state projects. The lawmakers' inaction followed a state agency review that found the law produced no benefit in helping small contractors win work.The statute had been set to sunset once before, but state
Courtesy of http://craunf.org/ The refinery where DeBaldo worked as it appears on a website for retirees from Chevron, which once operated it. How long does a worker have to file a lawsuit after symptoms of asbestos-related disease appear?Despite 40 years of litigation and the existence of “discovery rules” that determine how statutes of limitation apply to asbestos-related illness, the issue remains controversial.Case in point: A state appeals court in Delaware’s New Castle County last month made a ruling involving an employee of a company that was acquired by URS Corp. The ruling involves the worker’s contention that he didn’t receive
