“Manifest disregard of the law” is no longer a valid basis to challenge arbitration awards, at least not in the federal courts of Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Rather, according to the Fifth Circuit’s decision in U.S....more
5/6/2025
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Business Litigation ,
Construction Disputes ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Litigation ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contractors ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Subcontractors ,
Texas
We recently blogged about New Jersey’s bid protest requirements for procurements solicited under the New Jersey Division of Purchase and Property (DPP) here. As we noted, public procurements by local governmental authorities...more
1/23/2025
/ Appeals ,
Bid Protests ,
Construction Contracts ,
Federal Contractors ,
Government Agencies ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Public Contracts ,
Public Procurement Policies ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
Statutory Requirements ,
Subcontractors
As the second Trump administration begins next week, developers, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers are evaluating the extent of the construction industry’s international ties – and contractual exposure to potential...more
1/16/2025
/ Canada ,
China ,
Construction Contracts ,
Construction Industry ,
Contract Terms ,
Contractors ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Goods or Services ,
Importers ,
Imports ,
Mexico ,
National Security ,
Risk Management ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Policy ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration
On November 22, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) updated the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List to add 29 companies based out of the Peoples Republic of China bringing the total number of...more
On November 8, 2024, in Marina v. Bama Reinforcing, LLC, the Alabama Supreme Court addressed a trial court’s directed verdict on an injured construction worker’s negligence action. The worker was employed as a concrete...more
In Swinerton Builders, Inc. v. Argonaut Insurance Co., Swinerton Builders, a contractor, sued a surety on bond claims arising from defaults by its subcontractor on a series of work orders. The owner of Swinerton’s mechanical...more
In January 2023, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issued an invitation for bids (IFB) for a dune and berm replenishment and renovation project along the New Jersey coast. The USACE received two sealed bids for the...more
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a leading solar industry group, recently published a new supply chain traceability standard, Standard 101, for public comment. The standard is intended to provide “a rubric that...more
10/24/2024
/ Comment Period ,
Energy Sector ,
Imports ,
Manufacturers ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Renewable Energy ,
SEIA ,
Solar Energy ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Restrictions ,
Transparency ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
On May 16, 2024, the IRS released Notice 2024-41 (the “Notice”), modifying its preliminary guidance issued last May in Notice 2023-38 addressing the application of potential future rules that taxpayers must satisfy to qualify...more
On April 24, 2024, a coalition of domestic solar module manufacturers filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD Petition) with the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) and the...more
4/26/2024
/ Anti-Dumping Duty ,
Cambodia ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Exporters ,
Exports ,
Importers ,
Imports ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Investigations ,
Malaysia ,
Manufacturers ,
Thailand ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
Vietnam
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals recently reversed, in part, and affirmed, in part, a lower court decision regarding dismissal of contractual indemnity and implied indemnity claims. WW Consultants was the design...more
10/24/2023
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Construction Contracts ,
Construction Defects ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Litigation ,
Contractors ,
Design Defects ,
Indemnity Claim ,
Negligence ,
State and Local Government ,
VA Supreme Court
In early October, California’s governor signed into law Senate Bill 38, which amends Section 761.3 of the California Public Utilities Code to address safety concerns with the booming battery energy storage (BESS) industry in...more
On complex construction projects, there may be multiple contractors, subcontractors, vendors, suppliers, and sub-subcontractors working along side one another. With various entities working parallel there are substantial...more
In December 2021, President Biden signed the UFLPA into law to restrict the import of goods mined, produced, or manufactured, in whole or in part, using forced labor from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), which we...more
Indiana, like other states, has a strong policy favoring arbitration agreements, and Indiana courts construe arbitration clauses broadly to make matters abitrable so long as they reasonably fit within the language of the...more
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
In Ali Heidari v. Golden Bear Insurance, a California appeals court recently affirmed a lower court’s decision to deny relief under a CGL policy, where the policy excluded from coverage work performed by subcontractors under...more
3/8/2023
/ Appeals ,
California ,
Construction Defects ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Litigation ,
Homeowners ,
Insurance Industry ,
Policy Exclusions ,
Property Insurance ,
Property Owners ,
Subcontractors
On December 23, 2021, President Biden signed into law H.R. 6256, known as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The act is intended to stem the importation of goods made with forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous...more
12/28/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
China ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Energy Sector ,
Forced Labor ,
International Trade ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Rebuttable Presumptions ,
Solar Energy ,
Supply Chain
A federal district court in Washington recently rejected a subcontractor’s motion for reconsideration of a previously granted motion to stay in a Miller Act lawsuit (the Miller Act governs prime contractor bond requirements...more
12/8/2021
/ Appeals ,
Bonds ,
Construction Contracts ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Litigation ,
Construction Project ,
Contract Disputes Act ,
Contractors ,
Miller Act ,
Stays ,
Subcontractors ,
Subcontracts
H.R. 3864, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill (BIB), passed a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives on November 5, 2021, and will soon become law upon signing by President Biden....more
11/11/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Construction Project ,
DBE/MBE ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Funding ,
Infrastructure ,
Infrastructure Financing ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Small Business ,
Surface Transportation
When negotiating a complex change order or preparing to litigate a claim, calculating actual recoverable costs incurred can be a difficult exercise. You will want to first review your contract to determine what kinds of costs...more
Even as the construction industry continues its recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it also continues to focus on worker safety. Consistent with this focus, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety...more
5/13/2021
/ Construction Industry ,
Construction Workers ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Policies ,
Environmental Policies ,
General Contractors ,
Health and Safety ,
OSHA ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Safety
A delay is “concurrent” is a delay to the critical path of the project caused by multiple events not exclusively controlled by one party. If you are impacted by a delay to the critical path that was not within your control...more
It is the rare construction project that is completed without any change in the work. In most sophisticated construction projects, the contractual mechanism for managing these changes involves the issuance of a change order....more
On December 8, 2020, in Taylor Morrison of Texas, Inc. v. Kohlmeyer, a Texas Court of Appeals rejected a contractor’s appeal of a trial court order denying the contractor’s motion to compel arbitration in a home construction...more
12/18/2020
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Arbitration ,
Construction Defects ,
Construction Industry ,
Contract Terms ,
Contractors ,
Estoppel ,
Homeowners ,
Motion to Compel ,
Purchase Agreement