Norwalk Marine International (NMI) was hired by Correia Construction as subcontractor for the cruise ship dock project in a relationship that soured as work went on. Disputes over the terms of the contract and what was required of NMI escalated into terse e-mail correspondence, exchanges of attorneys' letters, the firing of the subcontractor and the defection of three NMI staff to Correia Construction.

NMI, a 20-year-old marine construction specialist based in Norwalk, Connecticut, agreed to carry out and oversee the driving of around 300 piles required for the project.

The contract, a copy of which was obtained by this newspaper, was signed on July 17, 2007. It outlines a profit-sharing arrangement, with NMI entitled to 45 percent and Correia Construction as the main contractor, to 55 percent.

After the start of the project was delayed, NMI sent out a group of staff in August 2007 to begin work on the project.

Those from NMI who worked on the job at one time or another included Mr. Gardella himself, general superintendent John Amenta, project manager Rich Preli, assistant superintendent Julius (Buddy) McIntosh, project coordinator Mark Granata, pile driver Robert Bradley and project manager Eric Alberghini.

After the start of work was delayed for some three months to ensure dolphins at the nearby Dolphin Quest were not harmed by the work the NMI staff arrived in late August and began driving piles at Dockyard in early September.

Three months later, Mr. Gardella expressed his concern about the lack of information regarding the profit and loss account that he needed to see to be able to calculate his 45 percent share of earnings.

The contract stipulates that Correia Construction should provide NMI "with a billing/profit analysis report weekly".

In an e-mail sent on December 11, 2007, to Jane Correia, the company's contracts administrator and wife of director Dennis, Mr. Gardella wrote: "Additionally we still have not received any copies of the requisitions weekly job costs, financial reports and profit-sharing reports as we agreed in the contract. Could we get this up to date?"

In another e-mail to Mr. Correia, dated September 23, 2008, more than ten months later, Mr. Gardella is still seeking financial information and suggests that Mr. Correia has told NMI staff not to allow any documents to leave Bermuda.

"To date we have not received a job cost report and monthly split in the profits as per the contract," Mr. Gardella wrote. "Unilaterally you have instructed my people not to send as much as 'trash off the island' which is not agreed to in the contract."

In the same e-mail, Mr. Gardella goes on to say that the project was running ahead of schedule, that his company had fully earned its share of the profit and that it should be compensated further for going beyond the remit of the contract.

Mr. Correia said Mr. Gardella was contracted to be on the job for three weeks per month, but was absent for most of the time. He added that Mr. Preli, then working for NMI, had full access to Correia's financial records as work progressed, and therefore, so did NMI.

Correia contracts administrator Jane Correia confirmed the firm was reluctant to allow paperwork off Island. "This is Government property and also a private company's it belongs to us," she said. "We were quite clear he could come to Bermuda at any time."

Mr. Gardella suggested that Correia Construction did not have the necessary management staff on board and relied heavily on NMI workers to supervise the project and, he claimed, to go beyond the remit of the contract.

However, Mr. Correia told this newspaper that NMI had not lived up to expectations and he had issues with the subcontractor over "non-performance".

The contract between NMI and Correia Construction states that the Bermuda company "has agreed to utilise the NM Int.'s (Norwalk Marine International) labour for the management of the Works and to supervise the Works".

It adds that Mr. Alberghini, Mr. Amenta, Mr. McIntosh and Mr. Bradley were to be provided by NMI "on a full-time basis for the Works to assist with the supervision and management of the installation of the sea wall, pipe piling, pre-cast concrete decking and dolphins".

Mr. Gardella felt NMI went beyond their remit, while Mr. Correia believed the subcontractor had not lived up to its side of the bargain.

Relations between the two companies worsened further until NMI was terminated as subcontractor on December 19, 2008.

Correia Construction disputed the claim that NMI had not had full access to financial records. A letter from Correia's lawyer Appleby to NMI's attorney Conyers Dill & Pearman, obtained by this newspaper and dated January 26, 2009, states: "Your client, through its operatives in Bermuda have had unlimited access to all of the financial data in respect of this contract. Your client (in the form of Mr. Gardella Jnr) has been given every opportunity on an almost weekly basis to inspect the records or to have access to those records, which he has singly failed to do."

Mr. Gardella is adamant that this was not the case.

"We were supposed to have 100 percent disclosure of all the documents, and Correia, after the first two months, wouldn't give us anything," he said. "Dennis Correia said not even a paperclip could go off the Island.

"Our contract was to manage the production of the project - the people, the pile-driving, etc. He had his own people to do the books. If we had been able to see the books, we'd have had a better handle on what the profit and loss was."

Mr. Gardella said he had agreed after January 2008 that Mr. Preli could help with the bookkepping for the project. But he added: "Correia was not disclosing the numbers to us and neither was Rich."

Mr. Amenta, Mr. Preli and Mr. McIntosh left NMI to join Correia Construction in January. The Bermuda firm paid out $600,000 to NMI to settle out of court the dispute over the men's contracts.

Mr. Gardella says his motivation in disclosing details of the project, which has cost Bermuda taxpayers $21 million more than was originally budgeted, was not money even though he believes he is owed some. "I have nothing to gain," he said.

NMI records showed the company was paid $2,718,847 by Correia Construction between July 2007 and the end of 2008, comprising equipment rental and purchase, payroll and expenses.