Crown Castle, Contractor in Settlement Talks Over Damaged Conduit

Crown Castle and contractor Black Electric are “engaged in discussions” to resolve their legal fight or “narrow the issues in dispute,” they told the U.S. District Court for Maryland in a joint status report Monday (docket 1:22-cv-02497). They want the court to modify its Nov. 21 scheduling order “to facilitate that process and preserve resources,” said the report. Under the modified schedule, the discovery deadline would move to May 31 from April 5, and the dispositive pretrial motions deadline would move to July 14 from May 5, said the report. Crown Castle alleges Black Electric’s workers damaged a conduit holding telecommunications fiber that Crown Castle had installed along Maryland's Hatem Bridge, but Black Electric denies culpability and seeks to dismiss the complaint (see 2211160009).