King County, Washington, Settles ‘North Creek Interceptor’ Sewer-Line Project Litigation

We would like to congratulate King County on reaching a settlement in the North Creek Interceptor sewer-line project litigation. King County received a payment of $18 million out of a total damage claim of $22 million.

In 2015, King County commenced construction on the North Creek Interceptor project — a two-mile sewer line that would serve portions of Bothell, Mill Creek and unincorporated Snohomish County and carry flows from those jurisdictions to King County treatment plants.

In December 2016, King County terminated its tunneling contractor, the Frank Coluccio Construction Company, and brought suit for default against Coluccio and the Surety for the project, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, to recover the cost of completing the sewer line project with a replacement contractor. During the case, 46 fact and expert depositions were taken. A total of 13 substantive and discovery motions were decided, all in King County’s favor.

The case involved a broad mix of complex procedural issues, including a venue dispute that the contractor unsuccessfully appealed to the Washington State Supreme Court, numerous discovery disputes — including multiple unsuccessful attempts to depose the King County Executive — and discovery of contractor deception and fabrication of evidence.

The Stoel Rives team was led by partner David Goodnight and included attorneys Hunter Ferguson, Bill Dempsey, Crystal Ellis, Mary DeVuono Englund, Julia Littell, Karl Oles, Scott Pritchard and Sara Wadsworth; paralegal Heidi Wilder; and case assistant Ben Reijonen. Staff members Rachael Cullen and Leslie Lomax were instrumental in handling the numerous filings.