Alabama Fellow Edward P. Meyerson Obtains $8 Million Award for REM Directional Drilling, Inc.

CLSA Fellow Ed Meyerson and Donald Nettles, with assistance from Brodie James, Debbie Catlin (all Birmingham) and Cable Frost (Jackson), obtained a complete and resounding victory in the form of an $8 million award in favor of their client, REM Directional Drilling, Inc. The dispute stemmed from the construction and installation of more than one mile of 42″ diameter natural gas pipeline near Bayou Pierre, Mississippi. REM, one of the nation’s largest horizontal directional drilling contractors, was sued by the project’s general contractor, Pilgrim Construction, following the project’s completion. REM counterclaimed, asserting that REM was entitled to an equitable adjustment of the contract price because REM had encountered subsurface conditions at the project site which differed from those indicated in the geotechnical report that had been provided to REM by Pilgrim and the project’s owner. By agreement of the parties, the matter was submitted to a panel of three AAA arbitrators for resolution.

The parties convened in Jackson the week of August 8 for a week-long evidentiary hearing, during which the panel heard more than fifty hours of witness and expert testimony and accepted thousands of pages of documents into evidence. Relying on a team of geologists, petrographers, geotechnical experts, and mechanical engineers, REM established both the existence of differing site conditions and REM’s entitlement to an equitable adjustment. Following the submission of post-hearing briefs, closing statements and affidavits, the panel took the matter under submission. On November 2, the panel issued a detailed and well-reasoned award, finding in favor of REM on its claims and awarding REM approximately $8 million in damages, attorneys’ fees and interest. The panel further found in REM’s favor as to the claims asserted by Pilgrim, denied Pilgrim’s claims in their entirety and ordered that Pilgrim reimburse REM for all AAA expenses it had incurred during the course of the arbitration.

CLSA Fellow Edward P. Meyerson serves as a Shareholder and leader of the Construction practice group at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC. Mr. Meyerson concentrates his practice in the areas of construction law, litigation and mediation and arbitration. He is a Member of Board of Bar Commissioners for the Tenth Judicial Circuit, Place No. 5, American Arbitration Association, National Panel of Arbitrators and Mediators, American Arbitration Association, American and Birmingham Bar Associations. He is a Member of Board of Directors of American College of Construction Lawyers and Adjunct Professor of Construction Law at Cumberland School of Law of Samford University. He is also Founding Member of Najjar, Denaburg, P.C. and Steering Committee Board Member of American Bar Association Forum on Construction. He is listed in Alabama Super Lawyers (Construction Litigation), Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers since 2008 as a leading construction litigation lawyer in Alabama, The Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of Construction Law (since 2003) and Alternative Dispute Resolution (since 2008) and in International Who’s Who of Construction Lawyers (2008). Mr. Meyerson received his J. D. from Cumberland School of Law of Samford University in 1969 and B. A. from University of Tampa in 1964.