News & Analysis as of

General Contractors Breach of Contract

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Court Separates Facts from Fiction – Lack of Supporting Project Documents Dooms Contractor

A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida demonstrates how facts supported by documents generated during the project can be vital to prime contractor/subcontractor disputes. In...more

Robinson+Cole Construction Law Zone

Robinson+Cole’s Amicus Brief Adopted and Cited by Massachusetts’s High Court

Earlier this year, the Associated Subcontractors of Massachusetts hired Robinson+Cole attorney Joseph Barra to submit an amicus brief to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for consideration in the appeal pending before...more

Hinckley Allen

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Releases Much-Anticipated Prompt Pay Act Decision

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On June 17, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) issued its decision in Business Interiors Floor Covering Business Trust v. Graycor Construction Company, Inc. (“Graycor”).  The SJC’s decision addresses an...more

Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Interprets Prompt Pay Act for the First Time

On June 17, 2024, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued its first decision interpreting the Massachusetts Prompt Pay Act (the “PPA”). In Business Interiors Floor Covering Business Trust v. Graycor Construction Co., Inc.,[1]...more

Stoel Rives -  Ahead of Schedule

The Role of Liquidated Damages Provisions in Construction Contracts

Considering all that can go wrong on a construction site, it can seem like a miracle that anything is ever built. Construction projects can be massive undertakings, often with millions of dollars at stake, requiring the...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Court Rejects Contractor’s Claim That COVID-19 Rendered Performance Impossible

A fundamental premise of contract law is that promises must be kept. If legally enforceable promises or “contracts” are not kept, courts may step in to enforce them by ordering performance, awarding damages, or granting some...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Liquidated Damages Disproportionate to Actual Damages Deemed Unenforceable

Construction contacts often include provisions that provide for pre-determined or “liquidated” damages in the event of a breach. Such provisions can provide certainty to the parties as to the consequences of a breach and can...more

BCLP

Can liquidated damages clauses set general cap?

BCLP on

A pair of cases in the past two years have come to opposite conclusions about whether general damages can be capped by contract provisions for liquidated damages. Liquidated damages clauses are a common feature of...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Damages for Buyer’s Breach of Contract for the Sale of Real Property: Court Rejects Contractor’s Creative Damages Theory in...

Who said legal opinions have to be boring? Not Judge Terrence L. Michael of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, who last week issued a colorful opinion rejecting a home builder’s creative claim...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Limitation of Liability in Extra Work Order Trumped by Subcontract

A federal court in Louisiana last week refused to enforce a limitation of liability provision included in an extra work order holding that it was trumped by the parties’ subcontract (see Planet Construction v. Gemini...more

Stoel Rives -  Ahead of Schedule

Efforts Expected of a Contractor When Efforts Clauses Are in Dispute

Originally published by the Daily Journal of Commerce on May 18, 2023. You will often see in construction contracts terms directing the contractor to use “best efforts” or “reasonable efforts” or “commercially reasonable...more

Stoel Rives -  Ahead of Schedule

What Parties Ought To Consider When Considering Arbitration Provisions

When reviewing a proposed design or construction contract, the responding party will often do a cursory check to see whether the contract proposes arbitration or litigation for dispute resolution. So long as the proposed...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Do I Need a Contractor License to Enter Into a Development Management Agreement?

Looking at statutes and case law from Washington and California for the answer - Whether a developer is required to obtain a contractor license to enter into a development management agreement ("DMA") must be viewed...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Willful or Wanton Conduct Not Enough to Overcome Economic Loss Rule Says Colorado Court

n Mid-Century Insurance Co., v. HIVE Construction, Inc., a Colorado court of appeals recently reversed the decision of a lower court that had refused to apply the economic loss rule to a negligence claim alleging wanton or...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Oregon Ruling Calls Into Question Quantum Meruit Claims in Construction Cases

On February 15, 2023, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that an excavation subcontractor, plaintiff Kizer Excavating Co., ("Kizer") could not maintain a quantum meruit claim against a general contractor, defendant Stout...more

Miller Nash LLP

Recession Planning: Prepare Ahead If Contract Terminated for Convenience

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With a recession casting a dark shadow on the new year and news of various projects being put on hold, it is a good time to revisit the checklists on what to do if your contract is terminated for convenience....more

Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig PLLC

Harrell v. Deluca: Fraud, Construction, Litigation, And The Intention To Perform

On November 7, 2022, the United States District Court for the District of Virginia decided the case of Harrell v. Deluca, 1:20-cv-00087, which centered around a home builder and contractor who failed to successfully deliver...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Construction Project Executives Beware: The Massachusetts Prompt Pay Act Means Business

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If you are an executive involved in a Massachusetts construction project, the routine pay applications you exchange in the ordinary course must now receive your utmost attention — as any failure to reject a pay application in...more

Cozen O'Connor

Intentional Act Without Intent to Harm May Not Be an Occurrence

Cozen O'Connor on

An intentional act may not be an “occurrence” even when there is no intent to cause harm, according to a California appellate court’s recent ruling in Ghukasian v. Aegis Security Insurance Co.1 Ghukasian involved an insured...more

Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

Judge Salinger Dismisses "Conclusory Assertions" Against Project Manager in Commercial Real Estate Dispute

Judge Salinger dismissed a real estate developer’s counterclaims against a project manager, ruling that the counterclaim allegations did not “plausibly suggest that [project manager] [wa]s liable for the contractor’s...more

Cranfill Sumner LLP

The Three Cases Shaking Up NC Construction Law

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Three cases have come out in the last year that will significantly impact construction law in North Carolina. - The Court in Crescent v. Trussway held that an owner of a commercial project cannot sue a subcontractor or...more

BCLP

Scottish appeal court says NEC is not a charter for contract breaking

BCLP on

The September 2020 decision by the Scottish Court of Session in Van Oord UK v. Dragados UK [2020] CSOH 87, which has now been appealed. The dispute centred on the ability of Aberdeen Harbour expansion main contractor Dragados...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

North Carolina Muddies the Water on the Economic Loss Doctrine

A pair of recent rulings involving the economic loss doctrine from North Carolina serve as a timely reminder to carefully consider the extent of contractual remedies in negotiation of construction agreements – lest a later...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Joint Venture Agreements: For Better or For Worse; In Profit or In Loss

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Just like a bride and groom vow to join together for better or for worse, commercial parties joining together through a joint venture must make a similar promise to share in profits and losses. ...more

Cole Schotz

Project Owners and General Contractors Take Note: Notice-to-Cure Provisions for Termination of Construction Contracts Cannot Be...

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Construction contracts generally outline various scenarios in which a party can terminate the contract. In one common scenario, a contractor is permitted to terminate its subcontractor “for cause” if the subcontractor...more

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