Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert Directory

Insurance and Your Roof

November 13, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
Those seeking home insurance should look up. Bankrate points out that the type of roof a home has can affect how much it costs to insure it. “The roof is the first layer that wind, hail, wildfire and other hazards really begin to act on,” Tim Reinhold, the chief engineer at the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, told the site. For insurers, the most problematic roof type is probably wood shakes. “Some companies won’t even insure certain roof types, such as wood shakes, in high fire-risk areas,” said Robert Hunter, the director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America. Not that other roof types are problem-free. Metal roofs can corrode, particularly when two different metals touch. Shingles age more quickly than other roof types, becoming brittle, and they can blow off in high winds. Tile roofs are expensive, something insurers are guaranteed to factor into the insurance rates. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of

U.S. Judge Says Wal-Mart Must Face Mexican-Bribe Claims

October 01, 2014 — Jef Feeley – Bloomberg
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) was ordered by a federal judge in Arkansas to face a pension fund’s claims the retailer defrauded shareholders by concealing corruption tied to bribes allegedly paid by officials of its Mexican unit. U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey in Fayetteville rejected Wal-Mart’s bid to throw out the Michigan-based fund’s lawsuit accusing it of making misleading statements to regulators about claims it paid bribes to facilitate Mexican real-estate deals. The world’s largest retailer has said it’s spent $439 million since 2012 in connection with investigations into allegations that employees paid bribes in Mexico, China, India and Brazil. Both U.S. and Mexican prosecutors have said they are probing whether executives of Wal-Mart’s Mexican unit were paying off local officials to clear the way for construction of new stores and warehouses. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Jef Feeley, Bloomberg
Mr. Feeley may be contacted at jfeeley@bloomberg.net

Affordable Housing should not be Filled with Defects

November 26, 2014 — Jesse Howard Witt – Acerbic Witt
Prime Time for Condos: Today’s Denver Business Journal presents a feature on Colorado’s hot market for condominiums and other forms of affordable housing. In several stories, reporter Molly Armbrister discusses how high demand for apartments and low construction of new condominium projects have put a premium on existing property. Addressing the argument that lawsuits have made builders reluctant to develop multifamily housing, she quotes The Witt Law Firm’s Jesse Witt, who said that both homeowner and builder advocates would like to see changes to Colorado’s existing statutes. Current laws do little to prevent defective work and often leave consumers no choice but to pursue claims in court or binding arbitration if they want a builder to correct code violations and other mistakes. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Jesse Howard Witt, The Witt Law Firm
Mr. Witt welcomes comments at www.wittlawfirm.net

Property Damage, Occurrences, Delays, Offsets and Fees. California Decision is a Smorgasbord of Construction Insurance Issues

November 21, 2017 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
Originally published by CDJ on November 15, 2017 I read once that 97 percent of cases never go to trial. However, there are still the ones that do. And, then, there are the ones that do both. The following case, Global Modular, Inc. v. Kadena Pacific, Inc., California Court of Appeals for the Fourth District, Case No. E063551 (September 8, 2017), highlights some of the issues that can arise when portions of cases settle and other portions go to trial, the recovery of delay damages on a construction project through insurance, and the recovery of attorneys’ fees. Global Modular, Inc. v. Kadena Pacific, Inc. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs contracted with general contractor Kadena Pacific, Inc. (Kadena) to oversee construction of its Center for Blind Rehabilitation in Menlo Park, California. Kadena, in turn, contracted with subcontractor Global Modular, Inc. (Global) to construct, deliver and install 53 modular units totaling more than 37,000 square feet for a contract price of approximately $3.5 million. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@wendel.com

Cybersecurity on Your Project: Why Not Follow National Security Strategy?

August 28, 2018 — Rick Erickson - Snell & Wilmer Real Estate Litigation Blog
In its recent Cybersecurity Strategy, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defined “cyberspace” as “the independent network of information technology infrastructure, including the Internet, telecommunications networks, computers, information and communications systems, and embedded processors and controllers.” To DHS, protecting cyberspace includes threats against “federal and nonfederal information systems.” In other words, both private and public interests are at risk. In his 2018 National Defense Strategy, U.S. Department of Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis, essentially concurred in declaring cyberspace a “warfighting domain” and promising to “invest in cyber defense, resilience, and the continued integration of cyber capabilities into the full spectrum of military operations.” The construction industry is a key player in cybersecurity because contractors, designers and owners are responsible for building and delivering projects providing critical public services like national defense, health care, law enforcement, transportation, and utilities. Like any business reckoning with risks in cyberspace, moreover, everyone on a construction project has valuable data and confidentialities to protect. Cyber breaches on a project may also compromise electrical power, physical safety and, inevitably, a lot more than the critical path schedule and profit margins. Cybersecurity insurance is not very affordable or comprehensive, either, and it usually excludes any property damage or bodily injury resulting from a cyber event. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Rick Erickson, Snell & Wilmer
Mr. Erickson may be contacted at rerickson@swlaw.com

The Increasing Trend of Caps in Construction Contracts and Negotiating Them

November 27, 2023 — Jarred Trauth - ConsensusDocs
Risks are inherent in every construction project and all parties involved face them: owners, designers, general contractors/builders, subcontractors, suppliers…. Equitably allocating such risks is one of the most important and most negotiated areas of any construction related contract. Limitations of liability provisions are key to risk allocation. These provisions include no damage for delay provisions and caps on delay damages, warranty limitations and exclusions, indemnity limitations, and consequential damage waivers. Another, and the focus of this article, is a liability cap fixing the total amount of damages for which a party may be liable under the contract (the “Liability Cap”). Liability Caps have become more and more common in construction and construction related contracts, including major component supply agreements and design agreements. This article will discuss Liability Caps generally and considerations of an owner or contractor negotiating them, including carve-outs (i.e. exceptions) to them. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Jarred Trauth, Jones Walker LLP
Mr. Trauth may be contacted at jtrauth@joneswalker.com

Florida Court of Appeals Rejects Insurer’s Attempt to Intervene in Underlying Lawsuit to Submit Special Interrogatories

October 09, 2018 — Jeremy Macklin - TLSS Insurance Law Blog
On August 10, 2018, the Florida Court of Appeals for the Second District upheld a trial court’s dismissal of an insurance company’s intervention in a tort lawsuit brought against its insured for the purposes of submitting special interrogatories and verdict forms. In Houston Specialty Ins. Co. v. Vaughn, 2018 Fla. App. LEXIS 11197, 2018 WL 3795785 (Fla. 2d DCA Aug. 10, 2018), the insured, All Florida Weatherproofing and Construction, Inc. (“All Florida”) provided pressure washing, roof coating, and other roof-related services. Houston Specialty issued a general liability policy to All Florida. In 2012, a worker fell off a roof while applying protective coating on behalf of All Florida. The worker and his family sued All Florida in connection with the worker’s injuries. Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of Jeremy Macklin, Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLP
Mr. Macklin may be contacted at jmacklin@tlsslaw.com

CA Senate Report States Caltrans ‘Gagged and Banished’ its Critics

August 06, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
According to the Sacramento Bee, the California Senate’s latest report said that “at least nine top experts for the new $6.5 billion San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge” were “’gagged and banished’” after complaining “about substandard work by the Shanghai, China, firm that built much of the span.” According to the report, reported by the Sacramento Bee, Tony Anziano, Caltrans’ chief executive of the project, “removed or demoted quality-assurance and fabrication engineers who tried to force the contractor to fix cracked roadway welds.” The report did not evaluate the bridge’s quality or safety, however, it “called for greater openness in large construction projects, a review of the weld problems by independent experts, and an investigation of allegations that engineering decisions were made by non-engineers.” Read the court decision
Read the full story...
Reprinted courtesy of

CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES