Natural Gas Pipeline

CPMI provided expert testimony in Utility Line Services, Inc. v PVR Marcellus Gas Gathering, LLC—a three-week jury trial in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. CPMI’s testimony supported a $24.3 million claim for construction of 17 miles of a 30-inch diameter pipeline for natural gas extraction. The project included 41 pipeline crossings through streams, swales, or wetlands and 1,800 feet of horizontal directional drilling under a roadway and two watercourses. Right-of-way access, permitting, unusually severe weather conditions, and work restriction periods related to stream crossings delayed the contractor’s work. The contractor filed a claim for unpaid contract balance; wrongful termination; and reimbursement for boring stream crossings, overtime, and standby costs. CPMI conducted a thorough schedule delay analysis and critiqued the opposing expert’s as-built driving path methodology. CPMI prepared an expert report, a rebuttal report, and testified at trial. The contractor was awarded 100% of its $24.3 million claim plus interest and attorney’s fees (including CPMI’s fees).