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Contract Interpretation Subcontractors

Marshall Dennehey

General Contract May Be Entitled to Award of Attorneys’ Fees Against Subcontractor, Despite Jury’s Apportionment of Damages

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Babin Builders and Development Inc. v. Quinones, Fla. 1st DCA, No. 1D2022-4103, February 12, 2025 - For construction defect litigation, many times we are called into action to defend a subcontractor who has been included as a...more

BCLP

"Battle of the Forms” in the Hong Kong Construction Industry

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What lawyers call a “battle of the forms” occurs when two parties, negotiating a contract, exchange conflicting standard terms during the contract negotiation and formation. This leads to the obvious and not uncommon dilemma:...more

BCLP

Does “Back to Back” Mean “Pay When Paid” in Construction Contracts?

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In Sze Fung Engineering Limited v Trevi Construction Company Limited [2025] HKCA 278, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal (“CA”) ruled that the “back to back” wording in that case was not a “pay when paid” clause, but governed only...more

BCLP

Payment Notices Under the Construction Act 1996, a Welcome Clarification

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In Placefirst Construction Ltd v Car Construction (North East) Ltd [2025] EWHC 100 (TCC), the Technology and Construction Court has shed welcome light on the payment notice requirements of the Housing Grants, Construction and...more

Adams & Reese

South Carolina Ruling Has Major Implications on Indemnity Provisions and Collateral Estoppel

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South Carolina contractors need to be aware of a recent decision by the South Carolina Court of Appeals that clarifies the landscape for indemnity provisions in contracts and introduces critical consideration regarding the...more

BCLP

Conditions Precedent and Time Bars, Getting Around Them

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When a party fails to comply with a condition precedent, especially if such a provision includes a time limit for the fulfilment of the obligation, it will often advance various arguments to avoid the consequences of...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Mississippi Passes New Retainage Law Governing Private Construction Jobs

Construction contracts for private projects will soon be subject to a new retainage law in Mississippi. On April 19, 2024, Gov. Tate Reeves approved SB 2762 into law, and after July 1, 2024, most construction contracts on...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Breach vs. Default — What’s the difference?

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

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Limitation of Damages Clause in Contract Held Inapplicable to Subcontractor’s Change Order Claim

Construction contracts often include clauses that purport to limit the liability of one or both parties. This includes clauses that completely prohibit any claims for certain types of damages such as lost profits and other...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Transferring Project Design Risk

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Some construction industry commentators have urged a more integrated approach to design and construction, with equitable risk sharing and an effort to ensure that project design will benefit from the experience of companies...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

How to Deal with Retainage on Alabama Public Projects

Retainage can be tricky in Alabama, particularly on public projects. In this post, we address retainage on public projects for public owners in the state (e.g., a governmental board, commission, agency, body, authority,...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Court Rejects Contractor’s Claim That COVID-19 Rendered Performance Impossible

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

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Incorporation Clauses: Does the Subcontractor Really Assume All Obligations of the Prime Contractor?

Many subcontracts contain a catch-all provision requiring the subcontractor to do everything the prime contractor is obligated to do under the prime contract. This is known as an “incorporation” clause because it adopts or...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

No Written Change Order? No Problem! Court Sides with Subcontractor in Payment Dispute

Many contracts contain provisions requiring that changes to a contract be in writing and signed by a particular authorized person. Under such provisions, work done without proper written authorization will not be...more

McGlinchey Stafford

The Bullet Point: A Commercial Law Bulletin - When can a non-party enforce a forum selection clause?

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The Bullet Point is a biweekly update of recent, unique, and impactful cases in state and federal courts in the area of commercial litigation. We’re pleased to expand the Bullet Point from its previous coverage of Ohio case...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Extra Work Claim Waived for Not Following Change Request Procedures

On May 29, 2020, in Constr. Drilling, Inc. v. Engineers Constr., Inc., the Vermont Supreme Court upheld a trial court’s judgment in favor of general contractor on an extra work payment dispute. The Supreme Court agreed with...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Promises to Pay Sub-subcontractor may Expose General Contractor to Liability for Unjust Enrichment

On May 14, 2020, in James G. Davis Constr. Corp. v. FTJ, Inc., the Virginia Supreme Court upheld a judgment on an unjust enrichment claim in favor of FTJ, a drywall supplier on a condominium project, against Davis, the...more

Allen Matkins

In This Case, The "Crux Of The Biscuit" Was The Missing Apostrophe

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Consider the following provision of in a contract between a general contractor and a subcontractor...more

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

“That Particular Part” – Yet More

Massachusetts Appeals Court Gets It Right – Mostly - Hot on the heels of the Federal Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in MTI, Inc. v. Employers Insurance Company of Wausau, __ F.3d __, 2019 WL 321423 (10th Cir....more

Troutman Pepper Locke

When a Flow Down Provision Doesn’t Flow Up: Oregon Appellate Court Holds That a Flow Down Provision From a Prime Contract With an...

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Eugene Water & Elec. Bd. v. MWH Americas, Inc., 2018 Ore. App. LEXIS 879 (July 25, 2018) On July 25, 2018, an Oregon appellate court concluded that a pair of subcontractors could not compel an owner to arbitrate its claims...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Oregon Anti-Indemnity Statute Voids Sub-sub’s Duty to Indemnify Sub for the Sub’s Own Negligence

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

Pillsbury - Policyholder Pulse blog

Another Appellate Court Holds that Faulty Work Constitutes an Occurrence – This Time Under New York Law

It is axiomatic that in order to obtain insurance coverage a policyholder must first establish that a claim falls within a policy’s insuring agreement before coverage under the policy is triggered. For construction claims...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Government...

Significant Government Contract Litigation: A Year in Review

Last year provided a number of important claims and cases that further developed various aspects of litigation regarding the Contract Disputes Act (CDA). The major issues raised in some of the more notable claims include...more

Snell & Wilmer

Under Construction - June 2013: Nevada Indemnification Clauses and Additional Insured Endorsements

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Unlike many states, Nevada has no statutory prohibition on indemnification agreements within the construction context. This has been an issue of significant concern every legislative session since 1995, with 2013 being no...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Playing Cards With a Government That Stacks the Deck - D.C. District Court Radically Expands The "Christian Doctrine" To...

On March 30, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a decision imposing certain socio-economic contract requirements on subcontractors operating hospitals associated with the University of...more

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