SEATTLE (AP) — A judge has called for sanctions against contractors of a Seattle tunnel project for losing evidence in a $624 million cost-overrun lawsuit against Washington state.
Judge Carol Murphy wrote in a ruling Monday that Seattle Tunnel Partners “consciously disregarded the importance” of the lost six pipe fragments and two granite boulders.
Seattle Tunnel Partners blamed the state Department of Transportation for the buried steel pipe that broke down the machine used to dig the new Highway 99 tunnel.
The sanctions against the tunnel partners have not yet been determined.