Subway Builder Is Ordered to Pay MTA Legal Fees

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ordered the principal builder of the city’s subway line to pay nearly $22 million in legal fees to the MTA, adding to the $29.5-million judgment against the contractor last summer for shoddy construction work.

Judge Joseph R. Kalin’s action Monday was the latest blow in the case against construction giant Tutor-Saliba Corp. The judge found the company liable last year for using minority-owned subcontractors as fronts, for more than 1,000 incidences of unfair business practices and for turning in false payment claims relating to construction of the Los Angeles Red Line subway in the mid-1990s.

The judge abruptly cut off testimony in the case last July, ending a six-year legal struggle. A jury then awarded the Metropolitan Transportation Authority the $29.5 million.

In October, Kalin turned down an appeal of that decision and ordered Tutor-Saliba to pay an additional $2.4 million in interest penalties. Later, he added roughly $9 million to the award to reimburse the MTA for other litigation costs.

“We are obviously elated,” MTA chief counsel Steve Carnevale said of the judge’s award of legal fees. “This was a continued message from the judge to the contractor. He shared our annoyance as to the way this case was handled.... It was a fight to get everything from their side all throughout the case.”

Tutor-Saliba President Ron Tutor would not comment. However his lawyer, Nomi Castle, said the company would appeal the order. She argued that Kalin has treated Tutor-Saliba unfairly during the case.

“There was a gross miscarriage of justice,” she said, adding that Monday’s ruling comes as “no surprise” in light of Kalin’s previous awards.

Tutor-Saliba is one of the largest public works contractors in California. Among its other projects are the Alameda Corridor freight rail project in Los Angeles and the San Francisco International Airport expansion.