Plaintiff’s lawyer: “We just have been treated correctly”

A jury in the Oconee Common Pleas Court received an outline of a complicated case in which each of three parties has a claim against another. And the jury this morning is ready to hear testimony from the first witness in the case of Plateau Excavation against Oconee County and the county airport’s former engineering company Talbert and Bright. The dispute arises from what was described as an airport runway extension project plagued by delays and cost overruns. A former employee of Talbert and Bright was sent to prison for falsifying a permit application to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. The jury yesterday afternoon heard David James, attorney for Plateau Excavation, say, “We just haven’t been treated correctly.” James said Plateau seeks damages of $1.2 million for having to idle its equipment when the project was shut down. But, according to defense lawyer Stephanie Burton, DHEC sent an inspector to the job site when a nearby farmer complained that sediment seeped into his farm pond and the U-S Army Corps of Engineers also got involved because sentiment reached nearby Lake Hartwell. The extension of runway 25 was eventually completed a year after its original completion date. For Oconee County and Talbert and Bright, attorney Burton said her clients do not deny that Plateau is due some compensation, but not the $1.2 million it seeks. Burton told the jury that her clients are pursuing a counter-claim against Plateau for damages incurred, in part, by the cost of drawing new plans to satisfy DHEC and the loss of fuel sales as the result of the delayed project.