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CLEARWATER —Tampa Bay Water's board has agreed to pay to end the lawsuit surrounding its C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir. The eight-member board of directors unanimously voted to pay HDR Engineering's legal fees and costs, totaling about $21 million, and to end the litigation against HDR Engineering over the failed soil-cement liner in the reservoir.
The fees include costs for the trial, post-trial proceedings and the appeal, and will be paid through funds on hand. The water board does not expect the settlement to directly affect water rates.
In one of the largest engineering professional liability cases ever in the country, Tampa Bay Water initially sued Omaha, Neb.-based HDR Engineering for $225 million over cracks in the water reservoir. That was reduced to $73 million when the case went to trial, but the jury ultimately found HDR was not liable for the damage.
The board's decision comes after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court against Tampa Bay Water.
“While the outcome has fallen well short of our expectations and was not favorable for the agency, we firmly believe that trying to recoup the public's investment through legal action was the right decision,” Pinellas County Commissioner Susan Latvala, Tampa Bay Water's chairwoman of the board, says in a press release. “We fought hard for what is right, and now we have to do what is in the best interest of the agency and the community to bring this chapter to a close.”
A fix for the region's reservoir is underway, which is expected to cost $122 million, and the facility is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2014.
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