On January 25, 2019, a Florida appellate court certified the following question to the Florida Supreme Court...more
The Florida Arbitration Code addresses the confirmation, vacation, modification or correction, and appeal of arbitration awards in Florida. In September, a Florida District Court of Appeal addressed whether parties may expand...more
11/27/2018
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Arbitration Awards ,
Judicial Review ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Remand ,
Subcontractors ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Vacated ,
Void Contracts
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
In Recurrent Energy Development Holdings, LLC v. SunEnergy1, LLC, a North Carolina Superior Court addressed a dispute between two solar developers arising out of a letter of intent/exclusivity agreement. Under the agreement,...more
7/13/2018
/ Breach of Contract ,
Cross Motions ,
Development Agreements ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Good Faith ,
Investment ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
Refunds ,
Solar Energy ,
Tax Equity
If you have been involved in the construction industry for any substantial amount of time, you have likely encountered an individual or an entity on a project who appears to be completely unreasonable or irrational. You may...more
When it comes to actions arising out of damage to property by a contractor, especially in the residential real property context, Tennessee courts typically balance the cost to repair versus the diminution in value of the...more
On March 9, 2018, the Georgia Court of Appeals reaffirmed the applicability of Georgia’s contractor licensing requirements (Ga. Code, Title 43, Ch. 41) to residential and general contractors. In Baja Properties, LLC v....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
In October, a Florida jury found a general contractor liable for $45 million for the death of a motorist killed by one of the contractor’s trucks pulling out of a road construction job site. The case highlights the importance...more
11/9/2017
/ Bodily Injury ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Site ,
Construction Workers ,
Contractors ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Contractors ,
Florida ,
Public Projects ,
Safety Standards ,
Subcontractors ,
Transportation Industry ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety ,
Wrongful Death
In September, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) addressed the certification requirements under the Contract Disputes Act (CDA). A motion to dismiss by the U.S. Government prompted the ASBCA to consider...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
Which party first breached a contract often plays a determinative role in assessing entitlement for damages in a contract dispute. This theory is often referred to as the First or Material Breach Doctrine....more
An issue that repeatedly comes up in construction disputes is the scope of an arbitration agreement. Courts generally interpret agreements to arbitrate broadly, and, where the arbitrability of a specific claim has been at...more
9/21/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Construction Contracts ,
Construction Disputes ,
Construction Industry ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Interpretation ,
Energy Sector ,
Federal Contractors ,
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company ,
Performance Bonds
In Florida, to perfect its right to lien a property, a subcontractor is required to submit a Notice to Owner (NTO) within 45 days of commencing its work. Among other requirements, the NTO must list the contractor’s name and...more
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) recently tackled a contractor’s claim for pre-construction costs following termination for convenience by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In Pro-Built Construction Firm...more
Florida’s Gov. Rick Scott signed HB 377 providing for revisions to the Florida statutes of limitation and repose governing construction claims. The new law revises Fla. Stat. Sec. 95.11 (Limitations Other Than for the...more
Mandatory arbitration clauses have become commonplace in construction contracts. Various groups have formulated generic arbitration language to insert into disputes clauses of contracts. A good example of such language comes...more
On April 18, 2017, President Donald Trump signed into law the “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order (No. 13788). The Order requires agencies to do a wholesale evaluation of their compliance with “Buy American” laws...more
5/2/2017
/ Acquisitions ,
Buy America ,
Construction Industry ,
Domestic Hiring Policy ,
Executive Orders ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Immigration Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
Waivers
As solar technology continues to become more efficient, construction of solar plants is expanding rapidly around the world, including in colder environments that, in the past, may have lacked the irradiance necessary to make...more
The CPV St. Charles Energy Center, a new 725 MW combined-cycle gas power plant in Maryland, went online earlier this month. The U.S. Supreme Court analyzed federal preemption with respect to state regulation of power...more
2/15/2017
/ Clean Energy ,
FERC ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Power Plants ,
Preemption ,
Renewable Energy ,
SCOTUS ,
State Regulators ,
Trump Administration ,
Utility Rates
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
Compliance with notice provisions in contracts is often a threshold question for courts when evaluating contract claims. In Contractors Edge, Inc. v. City of Mankato, the Minnesota Court of Appeals addressed such a...more
In Coghlin Electrical Contractors, Inc. v. Gilbane Building Company, the Massachusetts Supreme Court explored the applicability and scope of an implied warranty regarding the sufficiency of designs and specifications in the...more
Subcontractors filing Miller Act lawsuits in the U.S. must generally do so in the federal district court where the contract from which the dispute arose was “performed and executed.” 40 USC §§ 3131-3134 However, on...more