Judge Recommends Dismissal of Hill International’s Lawsuit Against V.I. Public Finance Authority

Magistrate Judge Alan Teague has advised dismissing Hill International’s lawsuit challenging the PFA’s award of a $137 million disaster recovery contract. The judge cited procedural deficiencies, lack of standing, and insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.

A report from a District Court magistrate has recommended the dismissal of a lawsuit against the V.I. Public Finance Authority.

Last September, Hill International filed suit against the PFA's Office of Disaster Recovery, alleging that the process of awarding a contract to manage billions of dollars worth of recovery projects was fatally flawed. They are asking the court to declare that the contract – which ultimately went to CH2M – was improperly awarded, and to force PFA/ODR to abandon it in favor of a new contract with Hill.

The PFA's response was to call for the court to throw out Hill's lawsuit, citing weak claims and missed deadlines. Hill skipped over several steps in the process of disputing a contract award, the defendants said, and thus the lawsuit was premature. If not for procedural deficiencies, the suit should be dismissed on the merits as well, PFA attorneys argued.