Key Lease Work Letter Issues When the Landlord Is Doing the Work
Law Brief®: David Pfeffer and Richard Schoenstein Discuss the Legal Implications of Infrastructure Collapses
Contractual Notice Requirements: Do You Really Need Them?
Construction Defects: Lessons Learned
California Court of Appeal Opens Doors for Construction Defect Claims Outside of the Right to Repair Act
In Lithko Contr., LLC v. XL Ins. Am. Inc., No. 31, Sept. Term, 2023, 2024 Md. LEXIS 256, the Supreme Court of Maryland considered whether a tenant who contracted for the construction of a large warehouse facility waived its...more
Construction projects are often complex endeavors involving multiple parties, intricate contracts, and significant investments. Despite meticulous planning, disputes can arise, posing challenges that require legal expertise...more
Should a contractor’s Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance policy cover the expense of uncovering defective work causing damage to the owner’s property as well as the costs of exposing or accessing damaged building...more
What is subrogation? Why am I being asked to waive it? Should I care? To answer that last question, let’s take a quick run at the first two. What Is Subrogation? “Subrogation” refers to the act of one person or party standing...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
In an important ruling for insurers, U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris found that Massachusetts does not follow the position taken in Cypress Point Condo Association v. Adria Towers, LLC, 226 N.J. 403, 418 (2016), i.e.,...more
In Guastello v. AIG Specialty Ins. Co. (No. G057714. filed 2/19/21 ord. pub. 2/23/21), a California appeals court held that triable issues of material fact exist which precluded summary judgment for an insurer seeking to...more
McMillin Homes Constr., Inc. v. National Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 35 Cal.App.5th 1042 (2019); Fourth Appellate District Court of Appeal, Division One, Case No. D074219 (June 5, 2019). McMillin Homes Construction, Inc....more
The Ohio Supreme Court’s October 9, 2018 decision in Ohio Northern University v. Charles Construction Services, Inc., 2018-Ohio-4057 issued a blow to general contractors attempting to obtain insurance coverage under their...more
Satterfield & Pontikes Constr., Inc. v. United States Fire Ins. Co., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 21488 (5th Cir. Aug. 2, 2018) - This case arises out of an excess insurance provider’s refusal to cover damages incurred by the...more
In recent years, courts in several states have held that a general contractor's commercial general liability ("CGL") insurance policy may provide coverage for damage caused by a subcontractor's defective construction work....more
The United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit recently issued a favorable decision for policyholders finding property damage arising from a subcontractor’s faulty work arose from an accidental “occurrence” under New York...more
Imagine you hired a general contractor to renovate the master bathroom of your home. The general contractor hired a subcontractor to do the plumbing work, but the subcontractor botched the job, resulting in a massive leak...more
Construction contracts generally require subcontractors to extend additional insured status on the subcontractor’s policies for the benefit of the contractor who relies on this coverage to protect it from claims arising out...more
That it took an appellate court to order AIG’s Lexington Insurance to honor its additional insured obligations is a measure of how frequently insurers attempt to dodge this important contractual obligation. The case of...more
In McMillin Management Services v. Financial Pacific Ins. Co. (No. D069814, filed 11/14/17), a California appeals court held that an insurer had a duty to defend a general contractor under an “ongoing operations” additional...more
Last week, the New Jersey Appellate Division issued a decision that may have a significant impact on insurance coverage for progressive property damage claims in the state. In Air Master & Cooling, Inc. v. Selective Ins. Co....more
New Jersey courts are continuing their trend of extending insurance coverage for third-party construction defect claims. Following last year’s NJ Supreme Court decision in Cypress Point Condo. Ass’n, Inc. v. Adria Towers,...more
In Pulte Home Corp. v. American Safety Indemnity Co. (No. D070478; filed 8/30/17), a California appeals court found that manuscript additional insured endorsements on construction subcontractors’ policies were ambiguous...more
As this blog has reported, a line of cases deciding coverage disputes over faulty workmanship runs against (or, at least, around) a basic rule for interpreting insurance policies. Under that rule, the scope of coverage is...more
Action Item: Developers and contractors, as well as commercial and residential property owners and occupants, must be aware of a recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision in Cypress Point Condominium Association, Inc. v. Adria...more
The Colorado Supreme Court has approved a settlement between the parties to an appeal of the 2012 Colorado Pool Systems v. Scottsdale Insurance Company Court of Appeals case, leaving that ruling intact. The ruling parses a...more
Now that the recession is beginning to become a memory of the past, the demand for housing is on the rise, and with it is the explosive interest in the multifamily market. As more Americans are choosing to marry later and...more
Ongoing efforts by insurers to recover amounts paid for uninsured losses after settlement or judgment have resulted in extensive litigation over allocation issues. Conflicting opinions have arisen over which party bears the...more
Involuntary Dismissal of Counterclaims – In a suit between a developer and general contractor, the trial court erred in dismissing the general contractor’s counterclaims, without a motion by the developer, before the...more