Baltimore City Circuit Court has issued a temporary restraining order that Purple Line Transit Partners (PLTP) is “enjoined and restrained” from demobilizing and abandoning the Purple Line Project until it establishes that an Extended Delay exists in accordance with the terms of the PPP Agreement. Unless extended, the temporary restraining order will expire on September 14, 2020.

The order by Judge came after the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) filed a complaint yesterday in Circuit Court against PLTP. The complaint seeks, among other things, the temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, and a permanent injunction restraining and enjoining PLTP from abandoning the project until it has established that an Extended Delay exists by and through its compliance with the dispute resolution procedures set forth in the PPP Agreement.

The complaint was filed after PLTP and its Design-Build Contractor, Purple Line Transit Constructors (PLTC), had begun demobilization efforts, despite MTA’s notice to PLTP that its termination based on disputed assertions is a breach of the PPP Agreement.

As indicated in the complaint, this action was needed because MDOT, MTA and the State of Maryland will suffer immediate, substantial, and irreparable injury if PLTP is permitted to abandon the Project prior to establishing any contractual right to do so, and to ignore its obligation to continue the Work on the Purple Line Project until the dispute resolution procedures that the parties agreed to in the PPP Agreement have been honored.

PLTP was obligated to follow the PPP Agreement’s change order, claims and dispute resolution provisions, and resolve any disputes before declaring an Extended Delay. To date, PLTP has refused to rescind its June 23 Letter that notified MTA of PLTP’s intent to terminate the PPP Agreement and, instead, it has taken steps to demobilize from the Purple Line Project.

PLTP and PLTC are basing their Notifications of Termination for Extended Delay of 365 days or more to the project’s critical path on four alleged owner-caused delays: Record of Decision (ROD) Vacatur, Right-of-Way (ROW) acquisition, alleged design amendments to an agreement between CSXT Transportation, Inc. (CSX), and changing approval requirements from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) regarding its Pond Code 378. However, as outlined in the complaint, all four of these issues are disputed assertions that are currently subject to and being processed through the dispute resolution procedures of the PPP Agreement.