SF supervisors-SFO contractor settle

A lawsuit that followed the construction of the international terminal at San Francisco International Airport appeared headed for settlement Tuesday with a local contractor agreeing to pay more than $500,000 to the city and the Bay Area Rapid Transit district.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to accept the terms of a settlement with Landavazo Brothers, Inc, which has facilities in San Francisco and Hayward. A judge must still sign off on the deal.

The suit followed completion of the international terminal in 2000, and the BART extension to SFO. California-based construction giant Tutor-Saliba Corp. was the prime contractor on that project. Prevailing local contracting laws stipulate that portions of public contracts be set aside for women- or minority-owned businesses.

In its suit, the City Attorney alleged that Tutor-Saliba identified the Landavazo Brothers firm as a concrete subcontractor in its contract bid, but in reality purchased the product on its own, paying fees to the Landavazo firm but actually buying concrete elsewhere.

In the settlement documents, Landavazo Brothers, Inc. did not admit wrongdoing, but agreed to pay $587,500 to the city, and agreed not to bid on city projects through Dec. 31, 2008.

In addition the city will transfer $50,000 from the settlement receipts to BART, according to documents.

In June this year, the city's suit against Tutor-Saliba also ended in settlement, with the contractor paying $19 million. The city had asked for $30 million in damages.

No one from the Landavazo Brothers was immediately available to comment.