Appeals Court: Undergrounding Lawsuit Will Go to Trial

A City of Piedmont lawsuit against two engineering firms that designed the Piedmont Hills Undergrounding Assessment District will go to trial, the California Court of Appeal has decided. 

The appeals court on March 21 sided with the city in a procedural motion in its suit against Harris & Associates and Robert Gray & Associates, according to a press release issued by the city late Thursday.

"The Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling that that the City’s filing of its suit in Superior Court was indeed proper and that arbitration was not mandated by the City’s contract with its engineers," the press release said.

The case will return to Superior Court and will be tried on its merits, the release said. No trial date has been set.

The case dates back to a utility undergrounding debacle in 2009.

While the residents of the undergrounding district had agreed to pay the $4.3 million estimated for the project, the city was left with more than $2 million in overruns after workers encountered bedrock early on in the construction.

In its March 21 ruling, the appeals court upheld a ruling by the trial court denying a petition by Harris & Associates to compel arbitration in the case.

Attorneys for Harris & Associates had contended that the firm was acting under its contract as city engineer and that the contract requires disputes to be resolved through binding arbitration.

The Court of Appeal’s decision is posted on the City of Piedmont’s website. For further information, contact City Clerk John Tulloch at (510) 420-3041.

For earlier Piedmont Patch coverage of the issue, visit our undergrounding page.

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