A California appeals court has upheld a $5 million award in favor of Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and against the owner of a 12-story, Virgin-brand hotel in San Francisco. Whiting-Turner agreed to construct the hotel...more
A New York appeals court has affirmed a $1.6 billion award for the developer of a Bahamas mega project against various subsidiaries of China State Construction Engineering Corporation, the world’s largest construction company...more
4/21/2025
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Bahamas ,
Breach of Contract ,
China ,
Construction Contracts ,
Construction Disputes ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Litigation ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Veil ,
Damages ,
Fraud ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Piercing the Corporate Veil
A federal court in upstate New York is permitting a subcontractor’s delay claim to proceed notwithstanding a “no damages for delay” provision in the subcontract. The case, The Pike Company, Inc. v. Tri-Krete, Ltd., involves...more
The corporate veil is a fundamental concept of American jurisprudence that generally shields owners and officers from the lability of the corporation. Unless the corporate veil is pierced or otherwise avoided, owners and...more
A federal judge in Louisiana has dished out some harsh criticism of contractors who don’t reduce their contracts to writing. The case involves the decommissioning of 26 orphaned oil and gas wells near Baton Rouge. The...more
3/21/2025
/ Arbitration ,
Breach of Contract ,
Construction Contracts ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Litigation ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Terms ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Evidence ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Oil & Gas
Not according to a decision from a federal court in Ohio. The case involves a landscaping project at a hillside home in Cincinnati. The property overlooks the Ohio River, but like many projects that become cases, it ended up...more
The Washington Court of Appeals recently affirmed a jury verdict and $30 million judgment for general contractor Skanska. The case involves the construction of the 41-story Nexus condominium tower in downtown Seattle. As is...more
2/5/2025
/ Appeals ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Breach of Contract ,
Construction Contracts ,
Construction Industry ,
Construction Litigation ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Terms ,
Evidence ,
General Contractors ,
Jury Trial ,
Litigation Strategies
It’s that time of year again when we Americans stop and give thanks for all that has been provided to us by gathering with friends and family to gorge ourselves on food. The traditional Thanksgiving meal, at least where I am...more
All breaches are not created equal. A minor, technical breach may be deemed “immaterial.” Other breaches – so-called “material” breaches — deprive the non-breaching party of something important or essential to the purpose of...more
The Federal Court of Claims recently ruled in favor of the operator of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in its long-running dispute with the United States over the disposal of spent nuclear fuel (NorthStar Vermont...more
We previously blogged about the hotly contested dispute between AECOM and FlatIron involving the I-70 construction project outside of Denver. After an 18-day trial, the jury returned a verdict last month for plaintiff AECOM...more
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently applied a no-damages-for-delay provision to affirm the dismissal of a demolition contractor’s breach of contract claims. The project involved reconstructing and raising the Bayonne...more
The words breach and default are often used interchangeably to indicate that somebody hasn’t done what they were legally required to do. According to Black’s Law Dictionary, the words do appear somewhat interchangeable. ...more
Back in April we examined the court’s decision in Boldt v. Black & Veatch, which dismissed a subcontractor’s counterclaim for wrongful termination on a 60-turbine wind farm project. As you may recall, the subcontractor hired...more
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
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
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
Another week, another fee-shifting case. This ones involves a 28-unit condo project in the Houston Heights neighborhood of Houston (see 2017 Yale Development, LLC v. Steadfast Funding, LLC, 2023 WL 3184028 (Tex. App. May 2,...more
5/22/2023
/ Appellate Courts ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Breach of Contract ,
Construction Liens ,
Counterclaims ,
Fees ,
Fraud ,
Promissory Notes ,
Remand ,
Summary Judgment ,
Termination for Default ,
Trial Court Orders
Earlier this week we saw the court in Patriot Construction use the waiver doctrine to excuse a subcontractor’s failure to strictly comply with the documentation requirements of the contract. As a litigant in Illinois federal...more