Stadium contractors dropped from Big Blue suit

Sept. 20, 2000 Milwaukee – The primary contractors building Milwaukee’s Miller Park have been dismissed from a civil suit stemming from last year’s fatal Big Blue crane accident.    Under a voluntary agreement among the parties approved on Friday, HCH Miller Park Joint Venture and its component companies were removed from further proceedings in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. HCH is a venture of Huber, Hunt & Nichols Inc. of Indianapolis, The Clark Construction Group Inc., headquartered in Bethesda, Md., and Brookfield-based Hunzinger Construction Co.    “As we moved closer to trial, we decided it was not necessary to include them as plaintiffs,” said Robert L. Habush, the attorney for the estates of two of the three ironworkers killed in July 1999. “It was a strategic decision.” Habush declined to comment further.   The dismissal of the four companies was not arranged until all parties stipulated that they would not seek to move the case to federal court as a result, according to David P. Lowe, the attorney representing the estate of the third ironworker.    Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America Inc., the subcontractor leading construction of the roof, and Kennewick, Wash.-based Lampson International Ltd. and Neil F. Lampson Inc., which owned and operated Big Blue, remain parties to the lawsuit. Also still potentially liable are insurers Travelers Property Casualty Insurance Co. and Travelers Indemnity Co. of Illinois. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for Monday followed by a trial beginning Oct. 16.    

  “Mitsubishi and Lampson are not based in Wisconsin, so they could have sought to remove the case from state court to federal court,” Lowe said. “We would have been at the back of the line in federal court. Everybody is ready to get the trial underway.”    Under an agreement approved in June, Lampson International agreed to a $5 million settlement. In January, HCH paid $2 million as a partial settlement, but neither company admitted wrongdoing and remained part of the case. While both could have been liable for damages, they would not have paid more for what each is insured for.    William DeGrave, Jerome Starr and Jeffrey Wischer were killed July 14, 1999, when Big Blue collapsed while lifting a section of the radial retractable roof. The accident resulted in $100 million in damaged and postponed the project for a year.