#82 - Case History - Practice, In Small Claims Court, Makes Perfect? Think About It
GBA has published over 100 case histories based on real-life events that have happened to geoprofessional firms. GBA Case Histories are unique because our members share real-life stories of problems that impacted their businesses. They also include the outcomes of corrective action, and lessons learned.
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Show Notes
GBA Case History Series – Case History #82 - Practice, In Small Claims Court, Makes Perfect? Think About It
Summary
A GBA member firm conducted a Phase I and Phase II study for the developer AND later did work directly for a former tenant of the same site. After things got even more complicated, the member firm decided to try small claims court for a resolution (where they had already been for at least 60 different projects). This practice did NOT make perfect.
Our Hosts:
- Elizabeth Brown, PE - Principal Geotechnical Engineer/JLT Consultants
Elizabeth is the Principal Geotechnical Engineer at JLT Consultants in Boise, Idaho. Elizabeth has performed and/or assisted with numerous geotechnical investigations throughout Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming managing projects, providing geotechnical design, project quality control, cost and value engineering, and evaluating geotechnical constructability issues.
- Tim Rodriguez – COO/BSK Associates
Tim is the Chief Operating Officer of Geoprofessional Services at BSK Associates, an employee-owned engineering firm. With over 30 years in materials testing and inspection, he oversees six Northern California offices and chairs BSK's Board of Directors. Tim is Past-President of the California Council of Testing and Inspection Agencies.
Lessons Learned:
- Perform a Go/No-Go Analysis
- Project Risk Often Is Inversely Proportional to Project Size, Complexity, and Fee
- Avoid Litigation When You Reasonably Can
- Follow Policies That Work
- Do Not Give up Leverage When Dollars Are at Issue
- Understand the Cost of “Your Day in Court”
- If You Cannot Quell Your Emotions, Rely on Someone Who Can
- Learn the Lessons of History
Calls-to-action:
- Download Case History #82
- Visit the following link to access all of GBA’s Case Histories: https://www.geoprofessional.org/gba-case-histories/
- An account is required to download the individual Case Histories, which are free for GBA Member Firms.
- Visit the GBA Website at https://www.geoprofessional.org for other training resources and reference materials and/or to become a member.
- Visit https://www.gbapodcast.com for future Podcast Episodes
- Contact us at [email protected] with any podcast-related questions or comments
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This episode was produced by the following GBA Members:
- Tim Rodriguez – COO/BSK Associates
- Elizabeth Brown, PE - Principal Geotechnical Engineer/JLT Consultants
- Ryan White, PE, GE – Principal Geotechnical Engineer/Apex Companies, LLC