The Court retains Cogerec's expert opinion in the Kiewit affair

The Grand-Mère hydroelectric project consisted in the construction of a power house comprising three units with a production capacity of 220 MW, on the Saint-Maurice River in the city of Grand-Mère. The contract for this project, estimated at $112 M, had been granted to Les Entreprises Kiewit Ltd.

According to Kiewit, numerous problems that were out of its control, primarily related to the availability of work areas, pressure from labour unions and problems related to the design of the works, led to productivity losses and significantly delayed the work. Major acceleration measures had to be implemented to meet the contractual deadlines. The additional costs incurred are at the basis of Kiewit’s claim for compensation.

Cogerec had to analyze the extent of the problems encountered by Kiewit and their consequences, identify the methods available to quantify the resulting costs, and provide an opinion on the calculation methods used by Kiewit and on the result obtained.

The Court ruled in favour of Kiewit for most of the claimed items. The Court mentioned the following concerning Cogerec:

“[535] Neither the cross-examination, expertly delivered by the defendant’s lawyer, nor the documents submitted by the defendant, could weaken Cogerec’s expertise , which is accepted by the Court.“

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