litigation

A US District Court judge in Detroit today ruled what seems perfectly obvious to most sane people - that the Ambassador Bridge company is not a US Government agency. That such an issue went to court at all is a reminder that no legal proposition is too bizarre to be thrown into a court in the long running battle over a new bridge over the Detroit River between the US and Canada.

The Ambassador Bridge company has lost its appeal against a major demolition order obtained by the state. Judge Cynthia Stephens presiding officer of the Michigan Court of Appeals today denied leave to appeal, and a motion to stay the demolition order, saying simply that the bridge company had "failed to persuade the Court." (see nearby)

New Jersey Turnpike Authority lawyers are seeking costs against the regular anti-road protesters at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC) for a "frivolous" lawsuit against widening the Garden State Parkway. TSTC is suing for an injunction to stop work on the widening project MP30 to MP80, a stretch of 80km (50 miles) on the Jersey shore.

Massachusetts attorney-general Martha Coakley has announced settlements that should end litigation over the July 2006 collapse of the ceiling of the Massachusetts Turnpike's Big Dig I-90 tunnel.

A Rhode Island business college professor Carol Surprenant has launched a class action suit against the two Massachusetts tollers over their local residents toll discounts. She is questioning the constitutionality of the Turnpike's Tunnel Communities Resident Program under which residents of East and South Boston and the North End living near the Boston harbor tunnels get deeply discounted tolls.

Environmentalists have run up the white flag and agreed to end obstructionist efforts against the Inter County Connector (ICC) tollroad in Montgomery County Maryland, 15 miles (25km) north of the White House.

An appeals court in Puerto Rico has said the state toll authority ACT must rebid a contract it awarded to United Toll Systems for cash toll colelction. The award was contested by TransCore which asked the court to give it the contract. So the result was only a partial win for TransCore.

None of the bidders complied with the filing requirements for doing business in PR it was discovered after the selection.

The toll authority having evaluated UTS as producing the best-value proposal then assigned the contract to UTS after it had corrected the filing.

Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) have formally released Figg Engineering from liability in the protracted litigation over responsibility for the collapse of a pier on the Reversible Express Lanes during construction in April 2004. After the collapse of one pier  another was found to have dropped a few inches.

The US Department of Justice and the Massachusetts Attorney General have announced a settlement in which joint venture project managers Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff (B/PB) will pay $407m (Bechtel at least $352m, PB at least $47m) for negligence at the Big Dig project of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. 24 other companies that did shoddy engineering work as section designers will pay $51m in a related 'global settlement' of federal and state claims.

The quirkly little Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) or 'Wobblies' have received lawyers' letters from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and from the Pike's rest stop concessionaire HMS Host Corp warning them of damages claims if they carry out threats to picket Starbucks restaurants on the Turnpike.