Residential Interior Decorator Was Entitled to Lien and Was Not Engaging in Unlicensed Contracting
August 04, 2021 —
David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal UpdatesResidential construction disputes can sometimes take nasty turns. This is not attributed to one specific reason, but a variety of factors. Sometimes, there are not sophisticated contracts (or contracts at all). Sometimes, relationships and roles get blurred. Sometimes, parties try to skirt licensure requirements. Sometimes, a party is just unreasonable as to their expectations. And, sometimes, a party tries to leverage a construction lien to get what they want. In all disputes, a party would certainly be best suited to work with construction counsel that has experience navigating construction disputes.
An example of a construction dispute that took a nasty turn involving an interior decorator is SG 2901, LLC v. Complimenti, Inc., 2021 WL 2672295 (Fla. 3d DCA 2021). In this case, a condominium unit owner wanted to renovate his apartment. He hired an interior decorator to assist. As his renovation plans became more expansive, the interior decorator told him he would need to hire a licensed contractor and architect. The interior decorator arranged a meeting with those professionals and, at that meeting, they were hired by the owner and told to deal directly with the interior decorator, almost in an owner’s representative capacity since the owner traveled a lot. The interior decorator e-mailed the owner about status and requested certain authorizations, as one would expect an owner’s representative to do. At the completion of the renovation job, the owner did not pay the interior decorator because he was unhappy with certain renovations. The interior decorator recorded a construction lien and sued the owner which included a lien foreclosure claim. There was no discussion of the contracts in this case because, presumably, contracts were based on proposals, were bare-boned, or were oral.
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David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at
dma@kirwinnorris.com
Transportation Officials Make the Best of a Bumpy 2020
January 18, 2021 —
Jim Parsons & Aileen Cho - Engineering News-RecordThe year 2020 provided a bumpy budgetary ride for all modes of transportation, and some industry insiders don’t expect airport and transit ridership to return to pre-pandemic levels for years. Agencies are taking lessons learned, coupled with hopes for the new Biden administration, to carry on as best they can.
Reprinted courtesy of
Jim Parsons, Engineering News-Record and
Aileen Cho, Engineering News-Record
Ms. Cho may be contacted at choa@enr.com
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Water Drainage Case Lacks Standing
March 28, 2012 —
CDJ STAFFThe Texas Court of Appeals has ruled in the case La Tierra de Simmons Familia Ltd. V. Main Event Entertainment, LP. The trial court had found for Main Event. On appeal, the court threw out some of the grounds on which the trial court had reached its decision.
The case involved two commercial lots in northwest Austin, Texas. The uphill tract (Phase III of the Anderson Arbor development) diverts its runoff onto the lower tract (the “Ballard tract”). The owners of the Ballard tract claim that “the drainage system was designed or constructed in a manner that has damaged and continues to damage the Ballard tract.”
Both tracts have undergone changes of ownership since the construction of the drainage system in 2004. At the time the drainage system was constructed, the parcel was owned by Sears Roebuck and Co. Sears later sold the property. Main Event Entertainment is the current tenant. Likewise, the Ballard tract was previously owned by the Ballard Estate which sold the property to La Tierra on an “as is” basis in 2007.
After La Tierra bought the Ballard tract, La Tierra’s engineer “witnessed and videotaped what he described as ‘flooding’ on the Ballard tract caused by storm water discharge from the Anderson Arbor drainage system during a rainfall event.” La Tierra determined that an adequate drainage system would cost about $204,000. Development plans were put on hold.
La Tierra sued Main Event and various other parties associated with the uphill tract, seeking “actual damages for (1) decrease and loss in rental income due to delay in obtaining the development permit, (2) interest on carrying costs during that time period, (3) the cost to build a water conveyance system on the Ballard tract, (4) engineering fees incurred to redesign the water conveyance system, (5) unspecified out-of-pocket real estate expenses, and (6) property devaluation occasioned by the need to construct an expensive water conveyance system.” The trial court never reached these claims, ruling instead that La Tierra lacked standing, that its claims were barred under the statute of limitations, and that there was no evidence of damage.
La Tierra appealed, arguing that “(1) the summary-judgment evidence does not conclusively establish that property damage claims accrued or were discovered prior to September 11, 2007, which is within the limitations period and was after La Tierra purchased the property; (2) even if the property was damaged before La Tierra acquired ownership of the Ballard tract, standing exists based on the assignments of interest from the Ballard Estate heirs, and the discovery rule tolls limitations until the injury was discovered on September 11, 2007; (3) limitations does not bar La Tierra's request for injunctive relief; (4) La Tierra's water code claim against Main Event and M.E.E.P. is viable based on their control over the drainage system, which makes them necessary and indispensable parties for injunctive relief; (5) La Tierra presented more than a scintilla of evidence to raise a fact issue on damages, causation, and other essential elements of its causes of action; and (6) the trial court abused its discretion when it sustained the defendants' objections to La Tierra's summary-judgment evidence.”
The appeals court concluded that La Tierra’s second claim was irrelevant to standing, as La Tierra “obtained assignments from the Ballard Estate heirs ? nearly one year after the lawsuit was initially filed.” Nor did the court accept their first point. The water system had been operating unaltered since January, 2004, with monthly maintenance and inspection to maintain its designed operation. Further, a feasibility report La Tierra received stated that “over sixteen acres drain into those ponds, and thus onto this site.” The court noted that “the underlying facts giving rise to a cause of action were known before La Tierra acquired ownership of the Ballard tract.”
The court concluded that the drainage issue is a permanent injury, but that it “accrued before La Tierra acquired an ownership interest in the property.” As La Tierra has standing, the appeals court ruled that it was improper for the trial court to rule on the issues. The appeals court dismissed the questions of whether the case was barred under the statute of limitation and also the question of whether or not La Tierra had damages.
As the issue of standing would not allow La Tierra to bring the suit, the appeals court found for the defendants, dismissing the case for this single reason, and otherwise affirming the ruling of the lower court.
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Let it Shine: California Mandates Rooftop Solar for New Residential Construction
May 16, 2018 —
Garret Murai - California Construction Law BlogCalifornia. Birthplace of the Frisbee, skateboard, television, canned tuna and (yup) fortune cookies has added another first to the list: California has become the first state in the nation to mandate the use of solar panels for new residential construction.
On May 9, 2018, the California Energy Commission (CEC) unanimously approved the state’s 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards. The 2019 Energy Efficiency Standards update the California Building Standards Codes found at Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations which are updated every three years. The 2019 Energy Efficiency Standards go into effect on January 1, 2020.
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Garret Murai, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLPMr. Murai may be contacted at
gmurai@wendel.com
Cracked Girders Trigger Scrutiny of Salesforce Transit Center's Entire Structure
November 21, 2018 —
Nadine M. Post - Engineering News-RecordNov. 15, 2018 Update:
After calling on Nov. 8 for a “complete structural evaluation” of San Francisco's 1.2-million-sq-ft SalesForce Transit Center, following the discovery on Sept. 25 of significant, mid-span cracks in the bottom flanges of twin parallel girders spanning 80 ft over Fremont Street, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority now says the problems with girders are localized.
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Nadine M. Post, ENRMs. Post may be contacted at
postn@enr.com
Undercover Sting Nabs Eleven Illegal Contractors in California
January 27, 2014 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFA sting operation conducted in Rancho Murieta, California on January 16th by the Statewide Investigative Fraud Team, with assistance from the state Department of Consumer Affairs Division of Investigation netted “11 people accused of illegal, unlicensed home improvement contracting,” reported the Merced Sun-Star. The news source stated that “the statewide drought” provided “a new angle in approaching conservation-minded property owners, according to the Contractors State License Board.”
The accusations included “illegal contracting after seeking bids for exterior painting, fencing and landscaping jobs,” according to the Merced Sun-Star. The eleven individuals received notices to appear in Sacramento Superior Court for arraignment March 27th.
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Stuck in Seattle: The Aggravating Adventures of a Gigantic Tunnel Drill
April 01, 2015 —
Karen Weise – BloombergAbout 20 workers wearing hard hats and reflective vests clump together on the edge of a chasm near Seattle’s waterfront, peering down a hole 120 feet deep and 83 feet wide. The last men have been craned out of the pit in a yellow metal cage. Gulls squawk. A TV news helicopter hovers overhead.
A dozen journalists stand nearby on the bed of a truck. We’re here to see Bertha, one of the world’s biggest tunneling machines. Or at least a piece of her. A 240-foot crane is about to haul a 540,000-pound steel shield out of the ground, 20 months after Bertha started digging a highway. Almost imperceptibly, the crane starts rising.
The event, on a Thursday in mid-March, is part of a massive rescue mission to fix the $80 million machine. She broke abruptly in December 2013 after boring through just 1,000 feet, one-ninth of her job. Her seals busted, and her teeth clogged with grit and pieces of an 8-inch steel pipe left over from old groundwater tests. She stopped entirely.
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Karen Weise, BloombergMs. Weise may be contacted at
kweise@bloomberg.net
The Brexit Effect on the Construction Industry
June 30, 2016 —
Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFFNow that the United Kingdom (UK) has voted to leave the European Union (EU)—commonly known as ‘Brexit’—much discussion has arisen on how it will affect the construction industry both in the UK and globally.
Brexit could impact the U.S. housing market in various ways, some negative and some positive. For instance, the mortgage refinancing industry is poised to receive a “glut of applications due to low interest rates,” Construction Dive reported. It’s also possible that the U.S. will receive an influx of foreign investors who may perceive the UK as being too isolationist, making the U.S. seem “more open to global business,” according to the Detroit Free Press. They also pointed out that the vote has already impacted the U.S. housing market, since it is most likely the reason the Federal Reserve decided against raising interest rates in June.
Furthermore, Construction Dive presented two different views of how home buying may be effected. On the one hand, investors who lost money in the stock market may be less inclined or able to purchase property at this time. But on the other hand, if Brexit causes home prices to decline, it may “be a relief to those homebuyers finding it difficult to come up with a down payment, particularly first-timers who are facing limited starter-home inventory in addition to steep price tags.”
Barron’s does not seem to believe that the stock market decline due to Brexit will affect the U.S. building industry. The publication maintained their “relatively favorable view of the home builders” industry for the following reasons: “1) Healthy demand trends seen in our monthly survey of real-estate agents; 2) 100% U.S. exposure and tailwinds from lower mortgage rates; and 3) Generally undemanding valuations. However, we are somewhat balanced by: 1) Rates have already been favorable, limiting incremental buyer urgency; 2) Risk that continued market volatility or broader economic fallout could hurt housing fundamentals; and 3) Industry gross margins face pressure from rising land and labor costs. We forecast accelerating order growth through the fourth quarter, driven by community count growth and easier second-half comps, and think improving trends would be a positive catalyst.”
Less positive are the predictions for the UK construction industry. CNBC reported that migrant workers currently make up twelve percent of the UK construction force, and Brexit could cause the labor shortage to worsen. According to Global Construction, Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders agreed that the industry needs migrant workers, however, he also stated that the UK needs to begin investing in their own “home-grown talent” through increasing apprenticeships.
Another prediction is that infrastructure projects may be adversely effected. For instance, the Independent reported that an anonymous source alleged that international investors have already begun to delay future infrastructure projects in the UK due to the uncertainty of the UK and the EU parting terms negotiation. Current projects may also be in jeopardy, according to the source, since the projects are often contingent upon existing shipping trade rules—if smaller ships can no longer go straight into Europe, it could be enough to halt these projects.
According to the Architects’ Journal, projects will stop—and they have evidence that one already has been halted: “Within minutes of the Brexit news, Daniel Minsky, who works with a boutique investment and development agency in London, was told that a proposed land deal had been pulled. The buyer withdrew at 7.05am this morning because they felt the residential value ‘was too risky.’”
The Architects’ Journal also predicted that environmentally friendly projects may decline since many of the green initiatives were governed by the EU under the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive. However, James Shackleton of Eversheds LLP disagreed with the assessment. Shackleton believes that Brexit may not result in less regulation, giving the following examples: “The Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 which essentially enact EU Directive 1992/57/EEC and require certain minimum health and safety requirements in design and construction, are unlikely to be swept away.” Furthermore, the “Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 enacting EU Directive 2002/91/EC requiring Energy Performance Certificates for buildings is unlikely to be repealed,” Shackleton claimed.
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