Morgan Lewis Victory for Humphreys Ltd. — $28.8 Million in Damages
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date:
06/28/2005 -
news source:
Press Releases
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New York, June 28, 2005 – Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP obtained an award of $28.8 million in damages for its client Humphreys (Cayman) Ltd. from Fluor Daniel Caribbean, Inc. and Fluor Enterprises. The case arose from the construction of Humphreys' luxury Ritz Carlton hotel and condominium project on the famous Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman, BWI.
The contractor, Fluor, contended at trial that it was entitled to over $29 million in unpaid costs and expenses arising from various design changes on the project that occurred from 2002 through 2004, and that it had been wrongfully terminated by Humphreys in early 2004 at a point when the project was only approximately 60% complete. Humphreys contended that Fluor breached the parties' contract and that it was entitled to terminate Fluor for various reasons, including Fluor's under-manning of the work, performing defective work, and submitting inflated billings and change order claims.
The case was brought to trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. After a three-week trial and three days of deliberation, the jury rejected all of Fluor's claims and found in favor of Humphreys on all counts. Humphreys was awarded $28.8 million plus interest, legal fees and costs. The Morgan Lewis team was led by Michael Libor, with assistance from associates Amanda Smothers and Michael Peters and legal assistance from Andrea Ehrhardt. Co-counsel included Dwight Davis and Ed Kehoe from King & Spalding LLP.
About Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Morgan Lewis is a global law firm with more than 1,200 lawyers in 19 offices located in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Chicago, Palo Alto, Dallas, Harrisburg, Irvine, Boston, London, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt and Tokyo. For more information about Morgan Lewis, please visit www.morganlewis.com.