Law Brief®: David Pfeffer and Richard Schoenstein Discuss the Legal Implications of Infrastructure Collapses
An issue of great importance to all construction project parties, including design professionals and contractors, is pending before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC). In the matter of Trustees of Boston...more
Last week we were lucky enough to attend the Institute of Energy Law’s 23rd Annual Energy Litigation Conference in Houston, TX, and hear its unique collection of industry professionals exchange insights and address some of...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
A recent win by a team of Bradley construction attorneys highlighted the role emergency arbitration proceedings can play in a dispute subject to an arbitration agreement. The ongoing case involves the design and construction...more
Earlier this month, our firm was well-represented at the 35th Annual Construction Law Conference in San Antonio, Texas. As always, the conference presented great opportunities to visit with colleagues and other construction...more
The Texas Legislature recently passed a new law concerning owner-furnished designs for construction projects, thereby overturning more than 100 years of precedent in Texas previously holding that contractors bore the risk of...more
Generally, the implied warranty of the adequacy of the plans and specifications, also known as the Spearin Doctrine, allocates risk to the owner for any defect in the design of the project. This influential federal decision...more
Through Senate Bill 219, now codified in Chapter 59 of the Texas Business & Commerce Code, the Texas legislature has reallocated the risks for construction design defect liability in Texas by joining a majority of...more
On September 1, 2021, Texas S.B. 219 went into effect. This new law incorporates Chapter 59 into the Texas Business and Commerce Code. In short, when a client provides plans or specifications containing design defects to a...more
The offshore wind sector continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, particularly in Europe, and increasingly in Asia and North America. The construction phase of any project is vulnerable to delay. That is particularly the...more
Sometimes you “do” bad things. Sometimes you “look like” you do bad things. Just look at the difference between Bad-boy Jack and my youngest daughter, Haven, who just “looks like” she’s up to no good. In the world of...more
DAK Americas Mississippi, Inc. v. Jedson Engineering, Inc. et al, No. 1:18cv31-HSO-JCG, 2019 BL 208838 (S.D. Miss. June 6, 2019) - This dispute arose out of the design and construction of a concrete storage slab at DAK’s...more
The Court’s decision in New Riegel Local School District Board of Education, et al. v. The Buehrer Group Architecture & Engineering, Inc., et al. interprets Ohio’s Statute of Repose, which generally requires certain...more
After meeting for 140 days at the Capitol, Texas Legislators adjourned the 86th Legislative Session on May 27th, 2019. For the construction industry as a whole, many are saying that the 86th Legislative Session was one of the...more
Though many states require a contractor to hold a contract directly with a design professional to pursue a claim against a designer for design omissions or defects, a recent case confirms that, in Florida, contractual privity...more
Meridian Eng’g Co. v. United States, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 7024 (Fed. Cir., Mar. 20, 2018) - Meridian Engineering Company (“Meridian”) was hired by the United States (“Government”) to construct flood control structures on...more
WTE-S&S AG Enters., LLC v. GHD, Inc., 2017 Bankr. LEXIS 2343 (Bankr. N. D. Ill. August 18, 2017) - This breach of contract dispute arises out of a contract to design and build a cow-manure digester on a farm in Wisconsin. ...more
Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Inc. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 2017 U.S. App. Lexis 7252 (4th Cir., April 25, 2017) - The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently addressed whether the...more
From the time that I was in elementary school through my years in law school, my grandfather always stressed the importance of getting off to a good start each new academic year. The importance of a good start is just as...more
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board v. INET Airport Systems, Inc., et al., 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 6646, 819 F.3d 245 (5th Cir. Apr. 12, 2016) - This action arose out of a construction project in terminal E of...more
Total Eng’g, Inc. v. United States, 2015 U.S. Claims LEXIS 30 (Fed. Cl. Jan. 26, 2015) - The United States Army Corps of Engineers (the “Government”) awarded a contract to Total Engineering, Inc. (“Total”) for preliminary...more
FLORIDA STATE CASES - Slavin Doctrine; Design Contracts - Under the Slavin doctrine, a subcontractor design company was not liable despite negligently designing intersection traffic lights that resulted in a fatal car...more
American Towers LLC v. BPI, Inc., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106724 (E.D. Ky. Aug. 4, 2014) - American Towers LLC (“American Towers”), which operates wireless and broadcast communications towers, undertook a project to...more
United States v. Spearin, 248 U.S. 132, 39 S.Ct. 59 (1918) is almost 100 years old, and it is still one of the most oft-cited cases in a construction lawyer’s playbook. In numerous contested cases, Spearin has given...more