As you may be aware, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) fidelity bonds and fiduciary liability insurance are not the same. Both serve to mitigate risk for fiduciaries, and are critical aspects of an employee...more
If an owner terminates a contractor due to a contractor default on a bonded project, can the surety hire the same contractor to complete the work under the bond? Depending on the language of the bond, it may be permissible...more
Sureties writing public construction bonds under Chapter 149A in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should pay close attention to Mass. Bill No. 3889, which seeks to create a Public Construction Surety Bond State Guarantee...more
In a recent decision issued by the United States Court of Federal Claims, Anthem Builders, Inc. v. United States, April 6, 2015, WL 1546437, the Court considered a protest involving the proposed use of an individual surety...more
Homeowner, David Belasco (“Belasco”) [1] bought a newly constructed Manhattan Beach residence in 2004 from the builder defendant Gary Loren Wells (“Wells”). In 2006, Belasco filed a complaint against Wells with the...more
New Bern Riverfront Dev., LLC v Weaver Cooke Constr., LLC (In re New Bern Riverfront Dev. LLC), 521 B.R. 718 (Bankr. E.D.N.C. 2014) – The debtor made claims against a surety that issued a performance bond in connection with a...more
FLORIDA STATE CASES - Slavin Doctrine; Design Contracts - Under the Slavin doctrine, a subcontractor design company was not liable despite negligently designing intersection traffic lights that resulted in a fatal car...more
Federally owned construction projects are covered by a Miller Act Payment Bond for the benefit of the subcontractors and suppliers thereof. If you make a claim for payment under the Miller Act, you may, under certain...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) recently approved amendments to its net capital, customer protection, books and records, notification and reporting requirements for broker-dealers, in an effort...more
Amendments impact many aspects of broker-dealers' back-office operations and will require changes to a number of existing practices. On July 30, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to the...more
In a unanimous July 16th decision, the New York Appellate Division held that MF Global, Inc.’s loss sustained on account of the commodities trading activities of its employee was a “direct financial loss” under MF Global’s...more
Originally published in Bank News, February 2013. Mary, your trusted employee, has embezzled money from your bank. Or, Bryan, a long-time customer, has used a deposit account at your bank to defraud his employer (and...more
This article discusses the issues an owner, lender, completion contractor, and surety should consider when drafting a takeover agreement. Although each of these four main parties may share the basic goal of seeing the project...more
Originally published in Florida Bar Journal on February 13, 2013. A contingent payment clause in a subcontract is the clause that provides that the subcontractor assumes the risk of owner nonpayment. Such clauses are...more
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (“NDAA”), which the President signed into law on January 3, 2013, includes significant reforms to the rules for contracting with small businesses....more
The Observer highlights significant developments in insurance recovery and risk management. In This Issue: - State of California v. Continental Insurance: Opinion Holds Insurers to Their Words - Sixth...more
In a ruling that might provide a new path to data breach insurance coverage, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Inc. has prevailed in its attempt to obtain insurance coverage for losses associated with a data breach under a commercial crime...more