LOS ANGELES, Nov. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Victorville reached a settlement with Carter & Burgess after the end of a closed session meeting on November 9, 2012. The City will collect $54 Million that will cover virtually all damages incurred from the failed Foxborough Cogeneration Power Plant in which Carter and Burgess acted as the Design Engineer, Owner's Engineer and Construction Manager.  Carter & Burgess appealed the decision, but ultimately made several offers to the City and settled the matter.

The total unanimous trail verdict award in 2010 of $52M included a first time Breach of Fiduciary Duty verdict against a California engineering firm.  Gibbs, Giden, Locher, Turner & Senet LLP ("GGLTS") one of California's top Construction Law Firms led the effort for the City of Victorville ("City") in its fight against Carter & Burgess (now Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.), a $10 billion dollar worldwide corporation.  In the 2010 trial, The City of Victorville was awarded $52.1 million after Carter and Burgess was found liable for professional negligence, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, breach of express warranty and breach of fiduciary duty.  The jury found that Carter and Burgess negligently misrepresented key facts to the City that turned out to be untrue and which the City relied upon to make their decision to build Foxborough.  A seven week trial concluded on December 8, 2010 in Riverside County Superior Court, Judge Ronald Taylor presiding.   Glenn E. Turner III, Esq. and Marion T. Hack, Esq. led the GGLTS litigation team to victory with the help of Victor F. Luke, Esq. and assistance of expert testimony from Exponent, engineering and scientific consultants. 

The outcome of this trial and $54M collection is good news for all project owners:

The GGLTS litigation team was aggressive in their litigation approach and for the first time in California history were able to establish and prove an engineer acted in the capacity as a fiduciary to an owner.

Leading Women in California Construction Law:

Marion T. Hack, Esq. is a partner at Gibbs, Giden, Locher, Turner & Senet LLP.  She is part of a small percentage of female attorneys that practice and litigate construction law matters.  GGLTS congratulates her on this victory.

About Gibbs, Giden, Locher, Turner & Senet LLP

Founded in 1978, GGLTS is a 35 attorney law firm with the majority of those attorneys having significant experience in construction transactions and litigation matters. (http://www.gglts.com)

For more information, press only: 
(Lannette Pabon), (310.552.3400), (lpabon@gglts.com)

SOURCE Gibbs, Giden, Locher, Turner & Senet LLP