Opinion ID: 2626414
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 1993-1994 Project (Conducted by E.E. Black)

Text: Sometime in 1993, GTE hired E.E. Black to install underground telephone lines along Kamake`e Street in the Kaka`ako Improvement District [hereinafter, the underground duct line project]. E.E. Black was responsible for furnishing all of the materials and labor, as well as for performing all of the necessary work for the project. Although a GTE engineer served as an inspector for the project, GTE hired Engineers Surveyors Hawai`i (ESH) to also provide inspection work for the project. The underground duct line project involved certain excavation and backfill work. According to GTE's Standard Specifications for Placing Underground Telephone Lines, which are intended to govern the work on all contracts awarded for placement of underground telephone systems by GTE . . . throughout the State of Hawai`i, [a]ll wood and debris shall be removed from [the excavated] trench before backfilling[,] and [b]ackfill material shall be free of wood, paper or other objectionable material. The GTE inspector testified that the purpose of the foregoing requirements was to prevent settlement and/or street failure. An E.E. Black foreman agreed that inappropriate backfill could lead to settlement and/or street failure. The ESH inspector also testified that improper backfill could potentially pose a danger to equipment used by a future contractor as well as to the safety of future contractors. E.E. Black began excavation at the intersection of Kamake`e and Kona Streets on or about October 21, 1993. E.E. Black then backfilled the excavated area, using select borrow backfill material, on December 22, 1993. Select borrow is a type of backfill material, where the largest pieces of material used as backfill are no more than one inch in diameter. During the underground duct line project, E.E. Black used hand mixed cement in order to make small repairs or patch existing sewer lines in the areas of construction. An ESH inspector witnessed E.E. Black mixing cement at the job site approximately ten times during the course of the project. E.E. Black's use of cement during the underground duct line project was acknowledged by an E.E. Black project engineer. According to a contract set of plans that E.E. Black apparently utilized during its project, the fact that there would be future underground work along Kamake`e Street [a]fter E.E. Black performed its work was reflected on those plans. E.E. Black's project appeared to have concluded sometime in early 1994.