The Price of a Massachusetts Life
Pulling a Fast One on Big Dig Death
"Big Dig company pleads guilty; Modern Continental overbilled and lied" by Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | May 9, 2009
The largest contractor on the Big Dig pleaded guilty yesterday to 39 federal charges of overbilling and lying about construction defects on the project, but prosecutors dropped five other charges that had implicated the company in the fatal 2006 collapse of the ceiling of the Interstate 90 tunnel.
Also see: The Big Pit
The Cambridge company, Modern
Oh, yeah, you have been vindicated even with the 39 other charges and the DEAD WOMAN from YOUR LIES. This is OFFENSIVE to me, readers.
Acting US Attorney Michael K. Loucks issued a statement that suggested Modern Continental is hardly blameless and pointed out that it has already paid millions as a result of the ceiling collapse. The company previously agreed to pay $21 million in damages to the state in a settlement stemming from the disaster and has contributed to a $28.1 million settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Del Valle's family in state court. But with the company now broke, there was no point in further charges in the collapse.
GOOD!!!
They SHOULD BE OUT of BUSINESS, the LYING, THIEVING MURDERS!!!
No one is going to jail in the case, he added, because corporations cannot go to prison and are generally punished only with fines....
And that has to change. Start REVOKING SOME CHARTERS for these ETERNAL ENTITIES whose RIGHTS SUPERSEDE MANS!!
Defects in the panel caused the wall to burst in September 2004, allowing 300 gallons of water a minute to gush into the roadway. Prosecutors say field workers reporting to Modern Continental knew of the defects and yet the company certified that the work met specifications....
And then a WOMAN was KILLED!!!!!
Modern Continental admitted it overbilled the project by about $167,000 over 15 years by claiming pay for workers classified as experienced journeymen, when they were, in fact, apprentices....
Yeah, ADD INSULT to INJURY why don't you!?
Yesterday's plea marked the latest development in a seemingly endless series of criminal and civil legal disputes over the Big Dig. Modern Continental, which started some 30 years ago with a wheelbarrow and a single sidewalk contract in Peabody, became one of the biggest symbols of the problems that plagued the $15 billion project.
Yeah, poor Modern Continental. So which inside connection landed them that contract here in good old Massachushitts? What is it with the damn corporate paper anyway?
The company earned $3.2 billion for work on the Big Dig, but in recent years was considered a virtual shell corporation, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
I'd hardly call it "earned" for "work," would you, readers?
After Del Valle's death, federal and state prosecutors, as well as plaintiffs' lawyers, scrutinized what role it played in the collapse. Del Valle, a 38-year-old Jamaica Plain mother, was crushed when tons of concrete tumbled down on the car driven by her husband on July 10, 2006....
Can you IMAGINE, American? Can you imagine driving your car with your wife beside you and all of a sudden.... ??
Something similar happened around here a few years ago to someone I know, but CAN YOU IMAGINE? NO AMOUNT of MONEY can REPAY that!!!
When you factor in the shoddy workmanship, over-billing, and lies -- OUTRAGE!!!!!!
Update: Big Pit Filled
"Legal work on Big Dig over, Coakley says" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | May 12, 2009
Attorney General Martha Coakley said yesterday that the state had completed its work on prosecuting and suing Big Dig contractors after recovering more than $610 million in legal settlements. "I believe, for all intents and purposes, we are done with our Big Dig work," Coakley told a legislative panel....
You may be, but we aren't! We are going to be paying billions in interest alone and that is all they got back for that piece of crap?
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