Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff agrees to $407 million Big Dig settlement
Industrial Distribution staff -- Industrial Distribution, 1/24/2008 6:26:00 AM
Bechtel/Parsons Brinkerhoff, the joint venture responsible for overseeing Boston’s Big Dig project, agreed to a $407 million settlement of criminal and civil lawsuits related to the fatal collapse of a portion of the project’s tunnel ceiling in 2006.The lawsuits accused the firm, which is a joint venture between Bechtel Infrastructure Corp. and PB Americas Inc., of failing to provide adequate construction management and quality assurance services.
It’s the second settlement related to the July, 2006 collapse of a portion of the tunnel’s concrete ceiling, which killed 38-year-old Milena Del Valle. Powers Fasteners, the fasteners and adhesives manufacturer that sold the epoxy used to suspend the tunnel’s concrete panels, agreed in December to pay a $6 million settlement to Del Valle’s family to settle a civil suit.
Powers Fasteners still faces a single charge of involuntary manslaughter filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley last year, that the company failed to adequately distinguish between the fast-set and normal versions of the adhesive used to suspend the ceiling.
Company officials have repeatedly denied the allegation, saying they warned state highway officials that the fast-set epoxy was not safe for overhead use.
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