Rick Barrett, Paul Dalton, Eric Yepez, and David Oliveros settle a $30 Million complex construction defect case
Jan 5, 2010 ⋅ Category: Good Results for Our Clients
The Firm’s client, one of 45 subcontractors in a luxury condominium development, was sued by the general contractor in an arbitration proceeding. The Firm was retained only 3½ months before the start of the arbitration hearing. Through its “fast-track” review and analysis of hundreds of thousands of pages of documents produced by the condominium developer/owner, the general contractor, and others, the Firm found and collected previously undiscovered documentary evidence showing that – after the arbitration process started – but before the Firm’s client was sued or could make any inspections – the developer/owner and/or the general contractor had removed, destroyed, or replaced the work done by the Firm’s client, thereby depriving the client of any ability to mount a factual defense to the claims.
Consequently, the Firm filed and aggressively prosecuted motions for summary judgment and motions for sanctions (death penalty) against the developer/owner and the general contractor for their spoliation of critically important evidence. The Firm’s “spoliation of evidence” strategy resulted in the client’s very nominal contribution to the multi-million dollar settlement of this complex construction defect case.