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
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
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
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
Recently, in Cross v. L-M Asphalt Partners, Ltd., the Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld a contractor’s immunity from suit for negligence, where the contractor complied with the contract and construction specifications provided...more
11/17/2020
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Contract Terms ,
Contractors ,
Federal Contractors ,
Immunity ,
Negligence ,
Strict Compliance ,
Summary Judgment
On August 4, 2020, the Court of Appeals of Texas (First District) reversed a trial court’s denial of an engineering firm’s motion to dismiss finding that the plaintiff’s failure to attach the required certificate of merit...more
8/12/2020
/ Affidavits ,
Appeals ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Construction Site ,
Dismissal With Prejudice ,
Filing Requirements ,
General Contractors ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Property Owners ,
Statute of Limitations
In March, a Massachusetts federal court addressed whether a design-builder contractor could recover for breach of contract under an intended third-party beneficiary theory against a design firm hired by the project owner to...more
An Illinois appellate court recently addressed the scope of negligence liability for a slip and fall injury on a newly installed roof at the Chicago White Sox Stadium. In 2013, a maintenance employee slipped on the roof at...more
3/22/2019
/ Appeals ,
Construction Defects ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Contractors ,
Duty of Care ,
General Contractors ,
Manufacturers ,
Negligence ,
Reversal ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Summary Judgment
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the application of Oregon’s anti-indemnity statute to a contractual indemnity provision requiring a sub-subcontractor’s insurer to indemnify the subcontractor for the...more
Fla. Stat. § 725.06 limits the scope of indemnification provisions in construction contracts. Specifically, the statute limits the ability of an indemnitee (e.g., owner) to require an indemnitor (e.g., contractor) to...more
2/9/2018
/ Construction Contracts ,
Construction Disputes ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Litigation ,
Construction Project ,
Florida ,
Indemnification ,
Public Improvement Projects ,
State and Local Government ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Utilities Sector ,
Utility Poles
Large projects tend to generate complaints from neighboring residents and businesses during construction. How a contractor deals with those complaints can be critical to a project’s overall success. Concerns can vary from...more
Late last year, a federal trial court in New York awarded a solar development company $11.6 million in damages against Suffolk County arising out of a dispute on a multi-site carport solar construction project. The basis for...more
10/18/2017
/ Breach of Contract ,
Building Permits ,
Commercial Leases ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Project ,
Contract Terms ,
Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing ,
Damages ,
Energy Sector ,
Parking Lots ,
Renewable Energy ,
Solar Energy ,
State and Local Government
The CBCA recently published an opinion addressing the interpretation of “Brand Name or Equal” clauses in Glancy & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Veterans Affairs. In Glancy, the contract specifications identified a patient...more