Three Aspen businesses settled their lawsuits with engineering firms that caused a lengthy city-wide power outage in the summer of 2014. Aspen Public Radio’s Carolyn Sackariason reports.
Over Easy, the Square Grouper and Radio Boardshop sued LKP Engineering, Odell Drilling and a West End homeowner. They sought thousands of dollars in lost wages and profits from the Aug. fourth incident that knocked out power for 12 hours. Their cases were heading to trial next month until a judge dismissed them last week. The parties came to an out-of-court settlement.
Aspen attorney Alan Feldman represented the businesses.
“The cases were resolved to the satisfaction of all three of my clients," he says.
They were three of seven businesses that sued. LKP and Odell last winter didn’t admit guilt in Aspen Municipal Court to a charge of damaging city infrastructure. A plea agreement resulted in the firms paying the city more than 17-thousand dollars.
The companies were performing soil-sample work at an Aspen home when crews sliced through nine utility lines, cutting power off to most of downtown Aspen. The homeowner, Patricia Gorman, has also been named as a defendant in the suits.
Litigation is still ongoing for at least one of the other businesses. Carolyn Sackariason, Aspen Public Radio news.