URS Settles I-35W Bridge Litigation – Analyst Blog

URS Corporation (URS) has entered into an agreement to settle the I-35W Bridge litigation. The company agreed to pay $52.4 million to resolve the last major lawsuit over I-35W Bridge Collapse.

 

The bridge, for which URS acted as a consultant, collapsed into the Mississippi River during the rush hour on August 1, 2007, killing 13 and injuring about 150. URS Corporation was charged of not noticing the warning signs in the bridge before it collapsed.

 

The settlement fully resolves all charges against URS and states the collapse of the bridge was a calamity caused due to faulty design and increased load over the years from various improvement projects, further aided by excessive traffic load on the day of the casualty. URS Corporation was not involved in the design or construction of the bridge and not even in the upgrading projects.

 

The I-35W Bridge-related litigations do not end completely with this settlement. The State of Minnesota and URS Corporation continue to have claims pending against Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC), which took over the firm that designed the 35W Bridge.

 

URS Corp. continues to see favorable trends in the federal government sector. There is a strong funding for O&M programs, which signifies increased opportunities to support long-term Department of Defense initiatives and stable funding for the Department of Energy’s environmental and nuclear programs, including the National Nuclear Security Administration. Consequently, URS continues to expect revenues in its federal sector in the range of $4.3 billion and $4.5 billion in 2010.

 

URS Corp. provides engineering, construction and technical services. As such, it offers a broad range of program management, planning, design, engineering, construction and construction management, operations and maintenance, and decommissioning and closure services to public agencies and private sector clients globally. It is also a major U.S. federal government contractor in the areas of systems engineering and technical assistance, and operations and maintenance.

 

We currently maintain our Neutral rating on URS Corporation, with a Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) over the next one to three months.