Seattle Washington Building Expert Directory

Payment Bond Surety Entitled to Award of Attorneys’ Fees Although Defended by Principal

February 01, 2023 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
For contractors involved in California public works projects the scenario is not uncommon: The general contractor awarded the public works project is required to obtain a payment bond for the benefit of subcontractors and suppliers and the payment bond surety issuing the payment bond requires the general contractor to defend and indemnify the surety from and against any claims against the payment bond. In Cell-Crete Corporation v. Federal Insurance Company, 82 Cal.App.5th 1090 (2022), the 4th District Court of Appeal examined whether a payment bond surety, who prevails in a claim against the payment bond, is entitled to statutory attorneys’ fees when the party actually incurring the attorneys’ fees was the general contractor, pursuant to its defense and indemnity obligations, as opposed to the surety itself. The Cell-Crete Case General contractor Granite Construction Company was awarded a public works contract issued by the City of Thermal known as the Airport Boulevard at Grapefruit Boulevard and Union Pacific Railroad Grade Separation Project. We’ll just call it the “Project.” Subcontractor Cell-Crete Corporation entered into a subcontract with Granite for lightweight concrete and related work. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Nomos LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@nomosllp.com

Claimants’ Demand for Superfluous Wording In Release Does Not Excuse Insurer’s Failure to Accept Policy Limit Offer Within Time Specified

September 15, 2016 — Christopher Kendrick & Valerie A. Moore – Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP
In Barickman v. Mercury Casualty Co. (No. B260833, filed 7/25/16, ord. pub. 8/15/16) a California appeals court affirmed a $3 million bad faith award against Mercury Casualty Co. based upon its failure to accept a policy limit demand within the time provided, finding that wording inserted by the claimants’ counsel into the release did not affect the insured’s rights such that the refusal to agree to the wording was unreasonable and in bad faith, exposing the insurer to liability for the insured’s stipulated judgment. Reprinted courtesy of Christopher Kendrick, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP and Valerie A. Moore, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP Mr. Kendrick may be contacted at ckendrick@hbblaw.com Ms. Moore may be contacted at vmoore@hbblaw.com Read the court decision
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Ahlers Cressman & Sleight Nationally Ranked as a 2020 “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News – Best Lawyers®

December 22, 2019 — Ahlers Cressman & Sleight
Ahlers Cressman & Sleight is pleased to be recognized by U.S. News – Best Lawyers ® as one of the top construction firms in the United States. The firm received metropolitan Tier 1 rankings in both Construction Law and Construction Litigation. In the national rankings, ACS one of just five Washington firms that was ranked for Construction Law (Tier 3) and one of six that received national rankings for Litigation – Construction (Tier 2). Only one other firm in Washington received a Tier 2 national ranking in Construction Litigation. The U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in the field, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC

Contractors Set to Implement Air Quality Upgrades for Healthier Buildings

April 12, 2021 — Nate Echtenkamp - Construction Executive
As people spend more time in offices, stores and other buildings, and colder weather forces many outdoor activities to be held indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic, construction contractors are increasingly being asked by building owners and operators to provide various mitigation strategies to improve indoor air quality to help occupants avoid being exposed to lingering airborne viral particles. Lowering the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in enclosed public spaces is of the utmost importance nowadays given that Americans, on average, spend nearly 90% of their time indoors, according to the EPA. It’s fairly common knowledge that the best way to avoid infection is to follow guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that include:

wearing masks or other face coverings;
frequent hand-washing;
physical distancing of at least six feet; and
deep-cleaning procedures.

Reprinted courtesy of Nate Echtenkamp, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the court decision
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Regions Where Residential Construction Should Boom in 2014

January 13, 2014 — CDJ STAFF
Construction Digital reports that five regions should see a boom in residential construction in 2014, based on research from McGraw-Hill Construction. According to the report, the rise in residential construction is likely to be as much as 26% in single-family housing, with an 11% rise expected in multi-family housing. The regions that should benefit the most from these are Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Denver, and Los Angeles. Cities that want to be in on the 2014 boom are advised to “lower permit fees,” offer “construction grants and loans,” and to get the word out to contractors that the area is going to provide a favorable environment for contractors. Read the court decision
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AI Systems and the Real Estate Industry

April 03, 2023 — Robert G. Howard & Craig A. de Ridder - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems captured considerable attention with the release of a large language chatbot, ChatGPT, by OpenAI, in November of last year. On March 14, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4, a more powerful “multimodal” chatbot responding to both text and images. And, on March 21, Google launched its conversational computer program, Bard, to compete with GPT-4. These chatbots allow users to initiate detailed queries or requests and receive prompt responses in complete sentences. Users are not forced to scroll through a list of results like those produced by search engines and follow-up questions can be asked. AI systems have been touted for many years and these new breakthroughs may drastically change the way that we create content. Notwithstanding their unprecedented capabilities, AI systems can produce imperfect results. New chatbots, for example, can generate plausible-sounding but nonsensical, biased or false responses. Accordingly, heavy fact-checking is necessary. OpenAI has warned that ChatGPT is prone to filling in replies with incorrect data if there is not enough information available on the topic on the internet. Bard includes a website disclaimer that it “may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn’t represent Google’s views.” On March 20, a breach at OpenAI allowed users to see other people’s chat histories before the service was shut down. Further, there is a real risk that courts will rule that certain content generated by these systems infringes the copyright or database rights of the owner of the materials and data that the technologies relied on. When entering into agreements with AI software providers, companies should also be concerned about other risks, including misappropriation of data, security, confidentiality, privacy and third-party claims. Reprinted courtesy of Robert G. Howard, Pillsbury and Craig A. de Ridder, Pillsbury Mr. Howard may be contacted at robert.howard@pillsburylaw.com Mr. de Ridder may be contacted at craig.deridder@pillsburylaw.com Read the court decision
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Insurer's Motion for Summary Judgment in Collapse Case Denied

November 10, 2016 — Tred R. Eyerly – Insurance Law Hawaii
The court denied the insurer's motion for summary judgment seeking to establish it did not breach the policy when denying coverage for the collapse of basement walls. Belz v. Peerless Ins. Co., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118900 (D. Conn. Sept. 2, 2016). The Belzes purchased their home in 2001. Prior to the purchase, they were aware of notable cracking in the basement walls. An engineer was hired to inspect the cracking and determined the cracks did not threaten the structural integrity of the home. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Insurance Law Hawaii
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

Pennsylvania Superior Court Fires up a Case-By-Case Analysis for Landlord-Tenant, Implied Co-Insured Questions

February 03, 2020 — Gus Sara - The Subrogation Strategist
In Joella v. Cole, 2019 PA Super. 313, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania recently considered whether a tenant, alleged by the landlord’s property insurance carrier to have carelessly caused a fire, was an implied co-insured on the landlord’s policy. The court found that the tenant was an implied co-insured because the lease stated that the landlord would procure insurance for the building, which created a reasonable expectation that the tenant would be a co-insured under the policy. Since the tenant was an implied co-insured on the policy, the insurance carrier could not maintain a subrogation action against the tenant. This case confirms that Pennsylvania follows a case-by-case approach when determining whether a tenant was an implied co-insured on a landlord’s insurance policy. The Joella case stems from a fire at an apartment building in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The landlord’s property insurance carrier paid the landlord $180,000 to repair the damages resulting from the fire. In March 2018, the insurer brought a subrogation action against Annie Cole, a tenant in the building, alleging that Ms. Cole’s negligent use of an extension cord caused the fire. Ms. Cole raised the affirmative defense that she was an implied co-insured on the landlord’s insurance policy. The subrogating insurer filed a partial motion for summary judgment seeking to dismiss Ms. Cole’s defense. In response, Ms. Cole filed a cross motion for partial judgment, arguing that because the lease specified that the landlord would maintain fire insurance for the building, there was a reasonable expectation that she would be a co-insured on that policy. The trial court found in favor of Ms. Cole, holding that the landlord’s insurer could not maintain a subrogation action against her because she was an implied co-insured of the landlord’s insurance policy under the terms of the lease. The landlord’s insurer filed an appeal with the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Gus Sara, White and Williams
Mr. Sara may be contacted at sarag@whiteandwilliams.com

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