LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Two O'ahu engineering firms are being sued in connection with the March 14, 2006, failure of the Kaloko dam on Kaua'i.

Belt Collins, which has an office in Honolulu as well as in other U.S. and foreign cities, and Hirata & Associates Inc., which is based in 'Aiea, are named as defendants in civil suits filed in Kaua'i's 5th District Court on Tuesday.

The lawsuits say that the consulting firms, which were employed by Jimmy Pflueger for work on his Kaua'i property that includes Kaloko dam, "failed to take appropriate actions to correct a 1997 grading violation — including removal of material that covered the spillway, and/or notifying the county of the precise area filled in 1997, including the spillway."

The suits say the consultants' actions were "negligent or grossly negligent."

The plaintiffs are landowners along Wailapa Stream, where houses were washed away by the dam breach, and the friends and family of the seven people killed in the tragedy.

The same plaintiffs are scheduled for trials in February and September 2009 in wrongful death and property damage suits in connection with the Kaloko tragedy against: Pflueger and several of his companies; the Mary N. Lucas Trust, which is a part-owner of the Kaloko Reservoir; former Kaloko owner C. Brewer & Co. Ltd. and affiliated companies; the state of Hawai'i; Kaua'i County; and the Kilauea Irrigation Co., which was authorized to control water coming out of the dam, and its owner Thomas A. Hitch.

Meanwhile the state Board of Land and Natural Resources for the second time in a month has postponed moving ahead with an in-depth, "Phase II" investigation of Kaloko dam's structural soundness.

The deferral was to give time for the state attorney general and Pflueger attorneys to work out a "protective order" limiting who could see Pflueger-paid-for engineering reports, Deputy Attorney General William Wynhoff said.

Pflueger's attorneys allege those reports should replace the state's proposed Phase II inspection, which they object to as a violation of Pflueger's rights as a lawsuit defendant.

Department of Land and Natural Resources Director Laura H. Thielen has said that if state engineers aren't satisfied with the quality and integrity of Pflueger-provided reports, the state will move ahead with the Phase II inspection.

Pflueger's objection to it entitles him to a "contested case hearing" before a hearings officer or the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Reach Diana Leone at dleone@honoluluadvertiser.com.