January 30, 2020
Ohio

Conneaut turbine trial delayed until October

By Brian Heytcher | Star Beacon | Jan 30, 2020 | www.starbeacon.com

JEFFERSON – The jury was sent home Tuesday morning and the trial rescheduled in a legal case that has been in progress for almost a decade.

The jury trial between NexGen Energy Partners and Reflecting Blue Technologies was delayed less than a week after it started.

The delay was due to questions about the admissibility of thousands of pages of documents, said defense attorney David Bertsch. Those questions had the possibility to double the length of the trial, he said.

“[The delay] was really done out of concern for the welfare of the jury.”

Issues causing the delay were raised by the defense, said Brad Barmen, who is representing NexGen.

“My office and our client aren’t thrilled with it,” Barmen said. “In the meantime, the court has reopened discovery and is permitting additional depositions, so we’re pleased about that and we look forward to pressing our claims when we get back to court in October with this additional evidence.”

The court will allow four specific depositions to be taken, Barmen said. The depositions are of people not involved with NexGen or Elecon.

“They’re some other people that were involved at different points and times in this project, in one way or the other, that I think have critical information,” he said.

NexGen filed a civil claim against Reflecting Blue Technologies and Elecon Engineering in March of 2011, according to court records.

This trial focuses on a wind turbine installed next to Conneaut Middle School.

The turbine was built in India by Elecon. Reflecting Blue was Elecon’s U.S. distributor. NexGen purchased three turbines from Elecon, only one of which was ever erected. The turbine at CMS had issues from the time it was assembled, and after multiple attempts to fix it, NexGen sued the manufacturer and the distributor.

NexGen alleges that Elecon and Reflecting Blue sold them an untested prototype turbine that was never fully commissioned, according to Barmen’s opening statement.

Reflecting Blue and Elecon are claiming that NexGen’s team was inexperienced and damaged the turbine while assembling it, according to Bertsch’s opening statement.

NexGen is seeking $12 million in damages, according to court filings. Reflecting Blue has a counterclaim against NexGen, claiming that NexGen did not pay Reflecting Blue the final payment for the three turbines.

The trial was initially scheduled for March 2012, then rescheduled multiple times. The trial was expected to last two weeks, according to court documents.

The trial has been rescheduled for Oct. 20, Bertsch said.

“We look forward to finally having our day in court and presenting our case,” Barmen said.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/01/30/conneaut-turbine-trial-delayed-until-october/