San Francisco settlement
in Tutor-Saliba suit

By Adam Martin, Bay City News Service

February 23, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera today announced a $19 million settlement with construction company Tutor-Saliba, which the city had accused of overbilling for work performed at the San Francisco International Airport.

San Francisco sued the Southern California-based firm in November 2002, claiming Tutor-Saliba and its partners defrauded the city out of millions of dollars by overcharging for work done on the airport's new international terminal. The suit also alleged that the company falsely claimed to be using minority subcontractors in order to comply with city affirmative action laws.

"I'm extremely gratified at the result,'' Herrera said of the settlement in an interview today. "It represents a fair and equitable result for the citizens of San Francisco and at the same time protects the integrity of our contracting program.''

Herrera faced resistance while pursuing the federal suit, including a Tutor-Saliba defamation suit against him personally and a legal challenge of the city's suit by the company. Both of those filings were thrown out of court.

Herrera said the city currently has no plans to grant Tutor-Saliba contracts in the future, but that the suit does not close the door to such a possibility.

"It was no secret to anybody that this was a hard-fought piece of litigation and despite that, I'd like to tip my hat to Tutor for their willingness to sit down and negotiate,'' Herrera said today.

"It was just the appropriate thing to do given the issue of legal fees and costs,'' Tutor-Saliba owner Ronald Tutor said in an interview today.

"I want to put it behind us.''

Tutor said the conflict was not with the airport, but rather with city attorney Dennis Herrera specifically. He said the company does not intend to do any more work for the city of San Francisco.

Tutor refused to comment further on the suit, saying he stands behind the joint statement issued by the city and contractor.

That statement indicates that the settlement "allows the parties to refocus their resources on the important work ahead for both in continuing to improve public infrastructure to meet the complex transportation challenges that the San Francisco Bay Area faces in the coming years."

Tutor-Saliba has contracted with other entities, such as Caltrans, on numerous Bay Area projects including the San Francisco Bay Bridge approach and a retrofit of the Richmond San Rafael Bridge.

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