When two companies negotiate a subcontract in support of a federal government prime contract ("federal subcontract"), they may include provisions capping their liability to each other at specific amounts. In structuring such...more
LCT Capital, LLC v. NGL Energy Partners LP, C.A. No. N15C-08-109 JJC CCLD (Del. Super. Ct. June 20, 2023) - Under Superior Court Rule 54, costs are allowed as a matter of course to the prevailing party. In this post-trial...more
On a great many occasions, I’ve seen the two causes of action in the title, Unjust Enrichment and Quantum Meruit, spoken in the same breath, as if they are either one in the same or so closely related that they are...more
On February 15, 2023, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that an excavation subcontractor, plaintiff Kizer Excavating Co., ("Kizer") could not maintain a quantum meruit claim against a general contractor, defendant Stout...more
The recent case of Edelson, P.C. v. Girardi, et al.[i] shows what can happen when a fee-sharing agreement goes bad. Edelson, P.C. claims that it acted as Illinois local co-counsel for California law firm Girardi Keese under...more
A subcontractor’s mineral lien in Texas is invalid when, at the time the mineral owner receives notice of the lien affidavit, the mineral owner is not yet obligated to pay the contract price to its contractor. So says Pearl...more
When two parties enter into a traditional written contract, they generally attempt to memorialize the transaction’s key terms in order to avoid misunderstandings about the expectations and responsibilities of the parties. In...more
Can an unlicensed general contractor enforce a construction contract in North Carolina? “No,” and as Judge Conrad explains, “[t]his is an unyielding rule.” JCG & Associates, LLC vs. Disaster America USA, LLC, 2021 NCBC...more
Just like a bride and groom vow to join together for better or for worse, commercial parties joining together through a joint venture must make a similar promise to share in profits and losses. ...more
The Court of Appeals of Texas (“Court”) addressed in a December 16th Opinion an issue arising out of litigation between an engineering firm and a Texas city related to a contract associated with services to obtain a landfill...more
Who pays for fluid containment in an oil field emergency? It depends on your contract and, we are told in Pearl Resources, LLC v. Charger Services, LLC, oil and gas industry custom....more
Scot Vandenberg v. RQM, LLC, 2020 IL App (1st) 190544 - Brief Summary - An Illinois appellate court affirmed the adjudication of a firm's attorney's liens down to zero, where the discharged firm failed to provide any...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that, under Texas law, a plaintiff can sustain an action for trade secret misappropriation even if the plaintiff voluntarily communicated the alleged trade secrets to the...more
Hance v. Super Store Indus., 44 Cal. App. 5th 676 (2020) - The attorneys who represented the employees in a class action filed a motion with the trial court for approval of a settlement of the action and also for an award...more
Hance v. Super Stores Industries, 2020 Cal. App. LEXIS 60 (Cal. App. Ct. Jan. 23, 2020) - A pair of plaintiffs' class action attorneys, who were seeking court approval of a settlement agreement in their case, had a...more
The ruling serves as a helpful reminder that parties must enter into well-drafted contracts in proper legal form. In Philip Barton v. Timothy Gwyn-Jones & Others [2019] EWCA Civ 1999, the Court of Appeal recently allowed a...more
a) On 9 October 2019, in the judgement of Mann v Paterson Constructions Pty Ltd [2019] HCA 32 (Mann), the High Court of Australia clarified the ability for contractors to claim on a quantum meruit basis....more
Parties to a construction contract often consider entering into a letter of intent in advance of agreeing all the contract terms, with the expectation that the contractor will be paid on a quantum meruit basis. In Moorgate...more
Rad and D’Aprile, Inc. v. Arnell Construction Corp, No. 502464/14, 2019 BL 131606 (NY. Sup. Ct. April 3, 2019) - In June of 2001, Arnell Construction Corp. (“Arnell”) entered into a prime contract to build two sanitation...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini discussed the case in which an investment bank sought to recover compensation from a client it had assisted in raising capital. The investment bank sued on claims of quantum meruit,...more
• In Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP v. J-M Manufacturing Company, Inc., the Supreme Court of California held that an attorney-client engagement agreement that is arguably tainted by an unwaived or inadequately...more
G4S Tech. LLC v. Mass. Tech. Park Corp., 2018 Mass. Lexis 357 (June 13, 2018) - A state development agency (the “Agency”), received state and federal funding to build a 1,200-mile fiber optic network. It contracted with...more
Aquatic Renovations Sys. v. Vill. of Walbridge, 2018 Ohio App. Lexis 1581 (April 13, 2018) On May 2, 2012, Aquatic Renovations Systems, Inc. (“Aquatic”) entered into a contract with the Village of Walbridge (“the Village”)...more
The United States District Court recently provided a pleading primer on a number of causes of action. Hall v. Storm Team Construction, Inc, et al. 2018 WL 2461991 (June 1, 2018). Plaintiff was hired as a project manager by...more
Ian Pai was an early participant in the Blue Man Group (“BMG”). Between 1989 and 1991, he met and began collaborating with the founders of BMG, namely, Chris Wink, Phillip Stanton and Matt Goldman. ...more