A circuit judge has signed an order scheduling a civil court trial to settle a dispute that arose over the completion of runway extension project at the Oconee Regional Airport. Tenth Circuit Judge Alex Macaulay’s order sets the case for trial March 11, 2013. The lawsuit involves the project contractor, the project consultant, and Oconee County. Georgia’s Plateau Excavation seeks $1.9 million or more in damages that the company alleges were suffered when Oconee County temporarily shut down the project. In an announcement, the county called the shutdown the result of unforeseen circumstances involving a national pollutant discharge elimination system permit. The matter eventually became a federal criminal trial in which a former employee of the consultant company, Talbert and Bright Engineering, was found guilty of mail and wire fraud. Civil trial plaintiff Plateau calls the three-way civil case so complex that it could take between seven and ten days to try.