The construction management company that pleaded no contest to illegal handling of asbestos during reconstruction at the Salinas Courthouse has quietly "opted out" of the project.

Monterey County spokeswoman Maia Carroll confirmed Friday that Skanska USA Building pulled out of the project while the county was renegotiating its contract in December. She said other contractors who were working on the job have assumed Skanska's responsibilities in a "seamless" transition.

Skanska pleaded guilty in November to four misdemeanor counts in a plea deal about 13 felony and misdemeanor charges filed by the state Attorney General's Office. In addition to being placed on probation, the company paid $750,000 in fines to settle a simultaneous civil action brought by the state.

The company is being sued by at least two jail inmates, two courthouse employees and Judge Albert Maldonado regarding alleged exposure to asbestos since the construction on the north wing of the complex began in 2004.

Skanska's withdrawal from the project came at a time when more than 100 courthouse workers were in the planning stages of a potential class action lawsuit about asbestos-related issues. That lawsuit, while pending, according to courthouse sources, has not been filed.

Asbestos, once a popular building material, is a known carcinogen that can cause asbestosis, or scarring of the lungs.

Skanska spokesman Tom Crane confirmed Friday that the company is no longer working on the project, which will add four courtrooms to the north wing. Crane declined to provide details on the reasons for the departure.

"We thought it in the best interests of the county and Skanska that we not renew the contract," he said. The project is "transitioning very well and we are appreciative of the positive relationship we've developed with the county."

Carroll said Friday the county was in the midst of renegotiating Skanska's contract when the company dropped out.

Ernie Mill of Mill Construction in Salinas said it isn't unusual for a construction manager on a public project to work under a contract whose scope of work is adjusted on an annual basis.

The courthouse project has been plagued by problems nearly since its inception. The building was closed, and services and employees displaced, on numerous occasions because of elevated asbestos levels.

In February 2005, state prosecutors filed criminal charges against Skanska and the project manager, Nova Partners Inc., as well as the individual project managers for both companies.

Transcripts from a subsequent grand jury hearing alleged that the defendants ignored warnings from other contractors and had a subcontractor saw and jackhammer through concrete on the second floor, releasing asbestos into the plenum above the first floor. The plenum contained the air intake for the building's ventilation system.

Subcontractors walked off the job shortly afterward and work came to a standstill. Even when abatement work was not happening, and even in areas believed cleaned of asbestos, elevated asbestos levels continued to be recorded.

In September, certified asbestos consultant Don Diel said he believed the asbestos was being loosened by something as minor as vibrations from the building's ventilation system and said he feared asbestos releases would continue. At his urging, the north wing was closed to workers and its operations moved into temporary buildings until the job is finished.

In October, Diel quit in protest of what he saw as efforts to rush completion of the job, which had expanded to provide for abatement of all asbestos in the building. The county originally planned to leave some asbestos "encapsulated" in the building.

The county is now targeting completion, originally slated to be finished in July 2006, for the summer of 2008. That is two years behind schedule and a year after the finished building is supposed to be turned over to the state as the final step in the consolidation of the state's municipal and superior courts.

Carroll said "99.9 percent" of the asbestos has been removed from the building. That phase of the job and reconstruction of basement holding cells are expected to be completed within three months, allowing inmates to be moved out of buses and vans they have been housed in while awaiting court hearings.

Carroll said reconstruction of the courthouse interior will begin this summer, with completion expected in a year.

Because the scope of the project has changed, she said, the county is renegotiating contracts with its contractors.

Nova Partners, which is still managing the project, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges in January. Criminal charges against the project managers, Seth Henderson and Anthony Jones, were dismissed in the plea negotiations.

All of the original defendants have been named in the lawsuits by the inmates, the courthouse workers and Maldonado.