Gulf Breeze is suing Skanska for gross negligence and intentional misconduct

The city of Gulf Breeze has filed a lawsuit against Skanska that alleges the company's negligence in allowing barges to batter the Pensacola Bay Bridge during Hurricane Sally created social and economic havoc from which the municipality is yet to fully recover.

"The lengthy and unanticipated bridge outage affected every aspect of daily life and business in Gulf Breeze and resulted in significant monetary damages to Gulf Breeze," the lawsuit, filed Aug. 14 in Santa Rosa County Court states.

Filed on behalf of the city by attorneys representing three Pensacola-based law firms, the suit seeks damages in excess of $50,000 for "all damages recoverable under applicable law" from three distinct divisions of the company; Skanska USA, Skanska USA Civil Southeast and Skanska USA Civil.

It alleges negligence, gross negligence and intentional misconduct.

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The lawsuit alleges that Skanska's failure to remove or safely secure the barges it was using to work on the Pensacola Bay Bridge ahead of Hurricane Sally's Sept. 16, 2020 landfall "posed an unreasonable risk of damage and destruction to the Pensacola Bay Bridge, the water and ecosystem of Pensacola Bay and the surrounding properties of both the cities and citizens of Pensacola and Gulf Breeze."

It alleges that Skanska itself had created an emergency plan calling for all of the 55 barges it was using to work in replacing the Pensacola Bay Bridge to be moved into East Bay or Butcherpen Cove ahead of winds reaching speeds 58 miles per hour. Even though the company had advance notice that a storm was headed its way, Skanska worked up until two days ahead of Hurricane Sally's arrival, the lawsuit alleges, far too long to give itself time to remove the barges.

The suit alleges Skanska's decision to continue operations constituted either "a deliberate choice or the consequence of a failure not to act more quickly."

It hinted at a possible motivation for the company to hold off on moving its equipment away from the bridge as warnings of the storm were being given.

"Falling behind its project schedule motivated Skanska to begin its preparations for Hurricane Sally far later in the development of that storm than it had for previous storms," the lawsuit claims.

Additionally, it alleges, Skanska "was already seeking reimbursement for costs related to the storm" when disaster struck.

When the storm made landfall Sept. 16, 2020, 40 of the 55 barges Skanska had deployed for bridge work remained "a few hundred feet from the bridge," according to the lawsuit. Those that weren't evacuated were moored to "pipe pilings and sea anchors or spudded barges."

The lawsuit stated 28 of the barges broke loose and struck the bridge during or after the storm.

Contained within the suit's claim of intentional misconduct is the assertion that Skanska should have known or reasonably concluded that with its barges so poorly tethered some or all would break free during the hurricane. It asserts that seven of the barges had already broken free by the time tropical storm force winds had arrived in Pensacola Bay.

It also notes that the company destroyed the cell phones of five of its "key players with potentially relevant information" regarding the storm preparations. The phones were "wiped, lost or otherwise made unavailable" during the course of an investigation after the storm, the lawsuit said.

In seeking damages for gross negligence, attorneys for Gulf Breeze accuse Skanska of "evincing a conscious disregard of the ultimate consequences" of its actions.

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"The circumstances surrounding Skanskas decision making and conduct presented an imminent, clear and present danger to the Pensacola Bridge that is more than the normal or usual peril," the lawsuit said. "Skanskas' calculated, conscious decision to put its own profitability ahead of the safety and well being of (Gulf Breeze) and the broader community is demonstrated," it said.

In arguing that the lawsuit filed on behalf of Gulf Breeze should be litigated locally rather than at the federal level, the attornies representing the city argued that Stanska does enough business in the state to render it "at home" in Florida.

They state that local jurisdiction is warranted because Gulf Breeze officials and employees were hindered in performing their duties within the city and that the city incurred the expense of "additional and alternative procedures, processes and events" due to the bridge outage and the "unavailability of Gulf Breeze property and facilities and damage to Gulf Breeze property."

"Skanska's continued usage of Wayside Park remains a significant and detrimental interruption to expected revenue," the lawsuit states.

Skanska, which was staged at Wayside Park following Hurricane Sally while repairs were made to the damaged bridge, moved its operations out of Wayside Park in February.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Gulf Breeze suing Skanska for damaging Pensacola Bay Bridge