Residential Contractor Boot Camp
Construction Delays in the Time of Coronavirus: A Legal Perspective
A recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida demonstrates how facts supported by documents generated during the project can be vital to prime contractor/subcontractor disputes. In...more
Construction law cases can involve a broad variety of issues, including breach of contract claims, construction delays, structural deficiencies/construction defect claims, environmental issues, and regulatory claims, among...more
The Court of Appeal has held that a party who prevents a condition precedent to their obligation to pay from being met cannot rely on the unfulfilled condition to escape their liability in debt....more
Welcome to Construction & Claims, a periodic digest of the headlines, statutory and regulatory changes and court cases involving construction news, claims, bid protests, contract administration and payment-related disputes....more
This BLOG has previously addressed issues related to proper licensure for contractors and the problems that arise for them if they perform work without a license. We have previously noted that home improvement contractors are...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
A Utah federal court recently held that when negotiating a pass-through settlement agreement, a contractor has a duty to disclose information to its subcontractor regarding the viability of the claims to be passed through....more
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
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
A fundamental premise of contract law is that promises must be kept. If legally enforceable promises or “contracts” are not kept, courts may step in to enforce them by ordering performance, awarding damages, or granting some...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
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
Since July 2019, Florida has seen an influx of over 550,000 new residents, driven in large part by economic migration from other states. This population growth has been accompanied, at least until the third quarter of 2022,...more
Business relationships often begin before parties execute a written agreement containing the terms and conditions by which the relationship will be governed. With little more than a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) or Letter of...more
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
In New Jersey, the “economic-loss doctrine” bars tort claims when the plaintiff’s only damages are economic in nature because, when parties enter into a contractual relationship, a contractual remedy flows from contract, not...more
The purpose of a liquidated damages provision in a construction contract is to establish in advance a fair amount of compensation to the injured party for a breach of contract to avoid spending time and money fighting over...more
Earlier this year, the Second District Court of Appeal of Florida held that a “no damages for delay” clause “will not be enforced in the face of governmental fraud, bad faith, or active interference with performance under the...more
On June 7, 2022, the Massachusetts Appeals Court issued an opinion of first impression regarding the Massachusetts Prompt Payment Act, G.L. c. 149 § 29E (the “Act”). In Tocci Building Corp. v. IRIV Partners, LLC, Appeals Ct....more
The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion extending application of the economic loss doctrine to certain construction claims. Among other things, the economic loss doctrine prevents a party from recovering on...more
Lessons in Arbitration Construction Dispute - In December 2021, Alex Turner, Jeff Patton, and Lee Denton in Spilman's Winston-Salem office arbitrated a construction dispute in Norfolk, Virginia on behalf of Sure Lift,...more
Three cases have come out in the last year that will significantly impact construction law in North Carolina. - The Court in Crescent v. Trussway held that an owner of a commercial project cannot sue a subcontractor or...more
Zusammenfassung des Urteils des EuGH vom 18. Januar 2022 in der Rechtssache C-261/20 zur Anwendbarkeit der HOAI für Verträge, die vor dem 31.12.2020 (sog. "Altfälle") abgeschlossen wurden, gegen die Mindestsätze verstoßen und...more