Utah's lien statute is intricate, unique, and oft amended by the legislature. And how Utah courts have interpreted the definitions and deadlines in the lien statute are frequent subjects of trial court best efforts and,...more
Construction transactions are characterized by many contracts involving multiple parties. While the terms of the parties’ individual contracts generally govern their relationships, parties should be aware that, intentionally...more
Construction relationships are usually governed by multiple contracts, such as various form AIA contracts, addenda, real estate purchase contracts, and financing agreements. Scores of different entities can be involved. A...more
In Utah, if you are a seller of real property, you have to let the bird in the hand go before pursuing the two in the bush. The seller of a motel trying to recover damages from a prospective buyer for breach of contract got a...more
Construction contracts generally provide that the loser in a construction dispute must pay the attorneys’ fees of the prevailing party. But construction contracts, by their nature, can lead to outcomes in which it is hard to...more
In the construction arena, there is a constant dialogue between owners, builders, and designers about changes to original deal terms. It’s natural and expected. And sometimes those dialogues lead to disagreements, and...more
A recent Utah Court of Appeals opinion, HKS Architects, Inc. v. MSM Enterprises Ltd. 2021 UT App. 70, puts contractors and designers on notice that they need to pay attention to receivables and excuses for non-payment. The...more
4/15/2022
/ Appeals ,
Bad Actors ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Contractors ,
Due Diligence ,
Fraud ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Non-Payment Clauses ,
Single-Asset Debtor ,
Summary Judgment ,
Third-Party
In a February 3, 2022 opinion by the Utah Court of Appeals, the struggle that courts have in distinguishing between employees and independent contractors continues. In Jensen Tech Services and Sentinel Insurance Company,...more
2/14/2022
/ Appeals ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Remand ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Workers' Compensation Claim ,
Workplace Injury
Utah courts continue to strengthen both the common law and statutory economic loss rule by limiting what duties are independent of those in a typical buyer/seller contractual relationship and thus limiting the common law...more
In a 6-3 decision issued very soon after the January 7, 2022 oral argument last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and reinstated the stay of enforcement against...more
1/14/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Lack of Authority ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
In its decision Larry Boynton v. Kennecott Utah Copper, LLC, 2021 UT 40, the Utah Supreme Court found that premises operators owed a duty of care to prevent take-home exposure to asbestos dust not only its employees, but also...more
A recent decision by the Supreme Court of Utah is a cautionary tale to sellers of real property attached to going concerns and prospective development issues. In Shree Ganesh, LLC v. Weston Logan, Inc., 2021 UT 21, the...more
Neil Irwin of the New York Times reported on Thursday morning that President Biden is preparing an Executive Order focused on competition policy. He reports that people familiar with the Order say one section has several...more
In December 2020, the Utah Court of Appeals found that, because a contractor’s preliminary notice contained the statutorily required information, although in unconventional order, the notice was valid.
In Zion Village...more
You’re a landowner in Utah, and fail to get a payment bond for commercial work a contractor is doing on your property, and the value of the work exceeds $50,000. To protect lien rights, contractors working on your property...more
At a time when some courts seem willing to write arbitration clauses out of contracts because of perceived fairness issues, Utah is firmly and liberally behind them. The Utah Court of Appeals recently confirmed Utah’s very...more
In UDOT v. Target Corp. et al., 2020 UT 10, the Utah Supreme Court recently clarified the standard by which a property owner is entitled to severance damages in connection with condemnation under Utah Code Ann. §...more
In McDonald v. Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland, 2020 UT 11, the Utah Supreme Court recently shed additional light on what is and what is not recoverable under the public payment bond statute, Utah Code Ann. §...more
The Utah Legislature is in session again, and it’s likely that there will be changes in the Utah employment landscape by the time the Session concludes in a couple months. Among the bills being offered this year is House Bill...more
On October 29, 2019, the Utah Supreme Court issued a rare decision reversing the Utah Court of Appeals. At issue was whether an at-will salesperson who had completed six contracts for sale of television services, and who was...more
11/1/2019
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Express Contract Terms ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Implied Covenants ,
Reversal ,
Sales Commissions ,
Salespersons ,
UT Supreme Court
In its 55th opinion this year, the Utah Supreme Court clarified that worker’s compensation applies to an employee who is injured not only on the employer’s premises, but also on the premises of another “in such proximity and...more
There is good news for contractors in Utah who take care to appropriately mark, sign and warn of hazards. Of course it does not mean they will avoid being sued. But in Coburn v. Whitacker Construction Co., 2019 UT 24, the...more
The Utah Supreme Court recently decided Baker v. Carlson, 2018 UT 59, which considered a developer’s ongoing effort to build a mixed-use, part-residential and part-commercial development on the site of the long-defunct...more
The Utah Court of Appeals recently decided Camco Construction, Inc., et al. v. Utah Baseball Academy, Inc., et al., 863 Utah Adv. Rep. 58, 2018 UT App 78. The case involved the plan of Athletic Performance Institute LLC...more
9/28/2018
/ Appeals ,
Bad Faith ,
Bench Trial ,
Borrowers ,
Construction Disputes ,
Construction Project ,
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress ,
Jury Trial ,
Jury Waivers ,
Loan Agreements ,
Loans ,
Summary Judgment ,
Trial Preparation
Welcome to the summer 2017 edition of our Under Construction newsletter. In this issue, to accompany the summer heat, we highlight several hot topic items affecting the construction industry, such as the recent revisions to...more