INSIGHTS: News

Shapiro Lifschitz & Schram wins favorable settlement for client Foulger-Pratt in Silver Spring Transit Center litigation

Shapiro Lifschitz & Schram, P.C. is pleased to announce that it has successfully settled a lawsuit on behalf of its client, Foulger-Pratt Contracting LLC, in a highly contested case involving the design, construction, and delayed opening of the Silver Spring Transit Center project in Montgomery County, Md.

In the settlement, which was achieved during a long and heated jury trial in the Circuit Court of Maryland for Montgomery County, Montgomery County agreed to drop its multi-million-dollar claims against Foulger-Pratt and to pay Foulger-Pratt $3 million on its affirmative claims against the county. Foulger-Pratt served as the project’s general contractor.

“This was a very long and hard-fought legal battle, and we are most pleased to see it come to a favorable resolution on behalf of our client, Foulger-Pratt,” said Judah Lifschitz, Principal and Co-president of Shapiro, Lifschitz & Schram and lead attorney for Foulger-Pratt. “Cases are won by teams – not individuals – and I am very fortunate to have worked with some of the most dedicated, professional and outstanding attorneys in the business.”

Lifschitz’s team included Laura Fraher and Kelley Halliburton of Shapiro, Lifschitz and Schram, and Bruce Marcus of Marcus and Bonsib, a frequent co-counsel with Lifschitz.

The $140 million transit center connects the Silver Spring Metro station with several of the area’s bus lines and the MARC commuter train, and opened in September 2015, four years after it was originally scheduled to open. In a separate settlement with the county, other defendants agreed to pay the county a $25 million settlement.