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Perini Building Co. and MGM Mirage are preparing for a court battle over nearly $500 million in disputed construction bills at Las Vegas CityCenter, an $8.5 billion project, the largest private project in U.S. history.  "The claims and counterclaims in this case are immensely complicated and complex," said George Ogilvie, managing partner with McDonald Carano Wilson LLP, which represents Perini. "The court and the parties must be mindful of the impact of this litigation not only on Perini, but also on the subcontractors and suppliers whose livelihoods and very existence are at stake."

MGM Mirage gains greater negotiating leverage by bypassing its general contractor and dealing directly with subcontractors, industry observers said.  "It enables MGM to beat down smaller-sized, cash-strapped companies and pay pennies on the dollar," said one construction expert who requested anonymity. "The option is to face endless and costly litigation, with no promise of additional compensation in the future. Unfortunately, this 'divide-and-conquer' approach has become a common close-out model on large-sized projects."

For more, see lasvegasbusinesspress.

For two weeks in February, expert witness hearings will be held at the Maine Public Utilities Commission in the case regarding Central Maine Power (CMP)’s proposal to expand their transmission network in Maine. These expert witness hearings will start at 9am each day and be held on February 2nd-5th and 9th-12th at the Commission’s Hallowell offices on 101 Second Street.

Central Maine Power is an electric transmission and distribution utility regulated by the Commission. CMP submitted its plans for the expansion—labeled the “Maine Power Reliability Project”—in July 2008. The Company seeks the Commission’s approval for new construction and reconstruction of approximately 350 miles of 345 kilovolt (kV) and 115 kV transmission lines and several substations throughout Maine. The approximate cost of the project is $1.5 billion.

For more, see wabi.tv.

Construction of Norfolk's starter light-rail line is running as much as 41 percent over its original budget, and that has angry local leaders demanding an explanation from Hampton Roads Transit, which manages the project. HRT officials said this week they need $38 million to $40 million more to finish the 7.4-mile transit system, which is just over 50 percent complete.

"We at HRT understand that our business practices need to be revised," said HRT President Michael Townes and stated that HRT has recently hired a transit construction expert and a financial consultant.  Townes noted that the original design of the light-rail project was "bare bones" to meet stringent criteria for federal money. He said the newest budget is close to the price tag HRT estimated several years ago before slashing more than $100 million in a "value engineering" exercise to reduce costs.

For more, see hamptonroads.com. 

Triumph Foods and Missouri Gas Energy reached a settlement Monday in the lawsuit that was set for a jury trial to begin the same day.  The pork company was suing the natural gas provider in Buchanan County Circuit Court for $19.9 million, stemming from a 2005 explosion that killed one person during the construction of the St. Joseph, MO, pork plant.

Triumph and MGE were in court Oct. 16 for a pretrial conference, asking for more than 40 expert witnesses to be accepted or excluded from the trial.  Triumph already settled with the other insurance companies, contractors and subcontractors involved in the facility’s construction, but the pork producer and MGE appeared to reach an impasse two months ago.

Triumph wanted $7.9 million in damages and $12 million in profits the company lost by delaying its opening for 62 days. Triumph’s attorneys argued MGE was responsible for not warning the pork company and its contractors that new steel pipes can absorb the natural gas’ odor while  Triumph attorney Mark Gottlieb said that had the company known about that possibility, it would have required spot testing as a safety precaution.

Source: stjoenews.net.

Construction expert Davy Sukamta said last week that well-constructed high-rise buildings in Jakarta could stand an earthquake up to a magnitude of 8, if the epicenter was not in Jakarta.  However, Ahmad Juhara, an architecture expert from the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Association of Architects, said that a lack of emergency procedures from building management meant that casualties and injuries could still occur. He suggested that workers should demand their right to safety and emergency procedures in their office such as standard operational procedures for emergencies and also evacuation drills. "There should be a person designated to manage emergency situations," and disaster preparations should be included in the initial stages of building construction and be handled by certified construction services.

Jakarta was among the cities affected by the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck the southern coast of West Java.  Office workers rushed out of their buildings through emergency stairwells. "Yesterday's quake had a magnitude of 7.3, if it reached 8.0, which is 10 times bigger, buildings in Jakarta would still stand," said the chairman of the Association of Indonesian Construction Experts, Davy Sukamta.  However, Davy said that residential houses were more prone to damage as they were not usually designed to weather earthquakes.

Excerpted from thejakartapost.com.

The federal department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement yesterday announced an immediate overhaul of its sprawling, complaint-ridden system for detaining more than 32,000 immigrants in 350 facilities.  ICE said last week that it would immediately close the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility in Texas, which immigrant advocates have assailed as inadequate for children. From now on, families facing deportation or awaiting decisions on asylum applications will be detained only at Berks Family Residential Center, a facility of about 80 beds, in Leesport, Pa.

Immigration expert and ICE assistant secretary John Morton says "The population that we detain is different than the typical population detained in jail. We need to adjust the balance."  The agency said in a statement that "with these reforms, ICE will move away from our present ... jail-oriented approach. ... The system will no longer rely primarily on excess capacity in penal institutions. In the next three to five years ICE will design facilities ... for immigration detention purposes" only.

Excerpted from Philly.com.

Engineers have been developing earthquake-resistant buildings for years, but a group of physics experts now believe it's possible to make an entire building effectively disappear from an earthquake's destructive path, avoiding serious damage. Inspired by the recent development of novel materials that precisely control the flow of light waves around objects, they've shown that the same ideas can work whether the waves make up light, sound or earthquakes.  The American Institute of Psychics reports:

Earthquakes are some of the most destructive forces in nature. The waves they produce ripple across the earth's surface, much as water waves travel across the ocean. The waves from earthquakes crumple buildings, bridges, and other structures, causing millions of dollars in damage and often death. Despite efforts to understand earthquakes and reinforce buildings against them, damage from the shaking ground is nearly impossible to avoid. But that may not be the case for long, say a team of physicists in France and the United Kingdom.

Rap star 50 Cent's lawyers questioned an architecture expert in the celebrity's case against the Bloomfield engineering firm BVH Integrated Services Inc.  Lawyers for 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, said the estimate BVH gave him before he bought his Farmington mansion is 2003 was more than $2 million off the mark. Jackson said he paid the company $14,000 to conduct an inspection and give an estimate on the cost of work needed at the home, which he bought for $4.1 million from Mike Tyson.  WFSB.com reports:

In court Thursday, Jackson's attorney, Michael Feldman, asked his expert witness, architect James Cicalo, if it was important for Jackson to get accurate figures before buying the home.  "Any purchaser wants to know what to expect," said Cicalo, of FSI Architects. During several hours on the witness stand, Cicalo told Hartford Superior Court Judge Eliot Prescott that he believes BVH was off on many of its estimates, perhaps by as much as $2 million.

David Tuffin helps lead the expert witness team for the building consultancy firm Tuffin Ferraby Taylor and authored In my expert opinion: How to pick an expert witness:

Cross-examination

Whether on the stand or around a negotiating table, an expert witness’ testimonial will come under close scrutiny and the witnesses will be cross-examined on their reports. You need to be confident that your expert can withstand this process and has the nerve to stand by their findings and coherently explain the reasoning behind each factor.

Specific expertise

Ask yourself: “Just how much of an expert is my expert?” Most disputes occur over a very specific point and it is therefore to your advantage to find an expert who has a specialist understanding of the issues involved. If, for example, dealing with a building defect on a shopping centre, look for someone who not only has surveying experience in working with defects with the same building material, but who also has practical experience in the retail market so that they can show an understanding of the building in its correct context.

The fact is that the greater the knowledge of your witness, the stronger their testimony will be. The opposing party will more than likely have its own expert, so it is important that your witness can provide a watertight argument backed up by an authority on the subject.

More to come from: http://www.building.co.uk/.

David Tuffin helps lead the expert witness team for the building consultancy firm Tuffin Ferraby Taylor and authored In my expert opinion: How to pick an expert witness:

Independence

According to the Civil Procedure Rules “it is the duty of an expert to help the courts on the matters within his expertise and this duty overrides any obligation to the person from whom he has received instruction.”

Courts tend not to look favourably at witnesses with a vested interest in the outcome of a hearing. It is therefore important to make sure you assess any potential conflict of interest from the start. The safest option is to get an expert from an independent firm.

Mediation

The high cost of going to court is resulting in the majority of disputes – about 80% – being resolved through negotiations and mediation. This will usually see the experts for both sides sitting around a table and arguing their cases in order to find a middle ground. Mediation is a fine art and therefore finding an expert who is experienced in mediation and has undergone specific training can work to your advantage.

More to come from: http://www.building.co.uk/.