An owner hired an engineering, procurement, and construction contractor to build a petrochemical plant, but the pre-commissioning activities delayed the planned startup by months. Baker & O’Brien reviewed the pre-commissioning activities, the schedule, procedures, and industry practices to provide opinions on the causes of the delay and the responsibilities of the owner and contractor. As part of the arbitration, we produced a technical expert report and several joint expert reports.

Introduction: A steel mill plant operator was not certified and authorized to operate a crane when his load struck an aerial lift supporting a welder within the crane operating envelope. Baker & O'Brien investigated the safe work practices and human factors involved in the incident, including the issue of competence. The opinions in our expert report included the error mode for the intentional but mistaken action.

In this dispute, investors lost a substantial portion of their investments when prices collapsed in 2014, months after a fiduciary advisor performed financial due diligence and solicited customers. Baker & O’Brien was retained to review the offering memorandum to determine whether the risks were sufficiently outlined to inform the investors about the perceived risk inherent in the investment. We reviewed the drilling venture, the investment prospectus, and other financial due diligence to present opinions that helped the dispute resolution.