Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Home Sales Topping $100 Million Smash U.S. Price Records

May 07, 2014 — Prashant Gopal – Bloomberg
The U.S. trophy-home market is shattering price records this year as an increasing number of residential properties change hands for more than $100 million. Barry Rosenstein, founder of hedge fund Jana Partners LLC, has purchased an 18-acre (7.3-hectare) beachfront property in East Hampton, New York, for $147 million, according to the New York Post. That would break the U.S. single-family price record of $120 million set last month with the sale of a Greenwich, Connecticut, waterfront estate on 51 acres. In Los Angeles, a 50,000-square-foot (4,600-square meter) home sold in February for $102 million in cash after a bidding war. The world’s richest people are moving cash to real estate as they seek havens for their wealth. In the U.S., an improving economy and stocks at a record are bolstering confidence among the affluent. Home purchases of $2 million or more jumped 33 percent in January and February from a year earlier to the highest level for the two-month period in data going back to 1988, according to an analysis by DataQuick. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Prashant Gopal, Bloomberg
Mr. Gopal may be contacted at pgopal2@bloomberg.net

Sometimes it Depends on “Whose” Hand is in the Cookie Jar

January 21, 2015 — Roger Hughes – California Construction Law Blog
In a lengthy and somewhat detailed decision, the California Court of Appeal for First District, in Pittsburg Unified School District v. S.J. Amoroso Construction Company, Inc., Case No. A138825 (December 22, 2014), held that a public entity could unilaterally withdraw retention funds during a pending legal dispute without the court first finding that the contractor had defaulted on the public works project. Background In 2008, general contractor S.J. Amoroso Construction Company, Inc. (“S.J. Amoroso”) entered into a construction contract with the Pittsburg Unified School District (“District”) for the reconstruction and modernization of a high school in Pittsburg, California. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Roger Hughes, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP
Mr. Hughes may be contacted at rhughes@wendel.com

Illinois Attorney General Warns of Home Repair Scams

November 27, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
After storms damaged homes in Illinois, Lisa Madigan, the state’s Attorney General, warned consumers “to be cautious and on alert for scammers trying to take advantage of people in need of assistance.” Ms. Madigan noted that home repair scammers go into areas with storm damage convince homeowners to pay more than they should to repair storm damage. Read the court decision
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Candis Jones Named “On the Rise” by Daily Report's Georgia Law Awards

September 29, 2021 — Candis Jones - Lewis Brisbois Newsroom
Atlanta Partner Candis Jones was named a lawyer “On the Rise” by the Daily Report (part of Law.com). Ms. Jones is one of 20 attorneys from Georgia to receive this distinction as part of the publication's 2021 Georgia Law Awards. The Daily Report’s “On the Rise” category recognizes outstanding attorneys under the age of 40 who have made an impression on their colleagues, their clients, and the larger legal community of Georgia. Winners are selected by the publication’s editorial staff. Ms. Jones is a member of Lewis Brisbois' General Liability Practice and has extensive experience with insurance defense, premises liability, personal injury, and medical malpractice cases. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies, numerous insurance carriers, and a major metropolitan transit authority. Outside her legal practice, Ms. Jones is an active member of her legal community and was recently installed as President of the Gate City Bar Association, the oldest African-American bar association in the State of Georgia. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Candis Jones, Lewis Brisbois
Ms. Jones may be contacted at Candis.Jones@lewisbrisbois.com

Single-Family Home Gain Brightens U.S. Housing Outlook: Economy

January 21, 2015 — Shobhana Chandra – Bloomberg
Builders broke ground in December on the most single-family homes in almost seven years, propelling an unexpectedly large gain in U.S. housing starts that signals construction will contribute more to economic growth in 2015. Work began on 728,000 houses at an annual rate, a 7.2 percent increase from November and the most since March 2008, a Commerce Department report showed Wednesday in Washington. Total housing starts, which include apartments, climbed 4.4 percent to a 1.09 million pace. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Shobhana Chandra, Bloomberg
Ms. Chandra may be contacted at schandra1@bloomberg.net

Senate Bill 15-091 Passes Out of the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee

March 19, 2015 — David M. McClain – Colorado Construction Litigation
As previously reported, Senator Scott's SB 91, as originally introduced, would have reduced Colorado's statute of repose for construction defect actions from eight years to four years. Yesterday, the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee heard Senate Bill 91 and, before passing the bill on a party line vote sending it back to the full Senate for consideration, made two substantive amendments. By one amendment, the Committee excluded any multi-family developments. The second amendment was to reduce the statute of repose from six years, currently on the books, to five years plus one more if the defect becomes manifest in the fifth year. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of David M. McLain, Higgins, Hopkins, McLain & Roswell, LLC
Mr. McLain may be contacted at mclain@hhmrlaw.com

Performing Work with a Suspended CSLB License Costs Big: Subcontractor Faces $18,000,000 Disgorgement

September 17, 2015 — Steven M. Cvitanovic & David A. Harris – Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP
In what could lead to a draconian result, the Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District held that a contractor who performs work without a valid license can be required to disgorge all payments received, even if the contractor perfectly performed its work. The case, Judicial Council of California v. Jacobs Facilities, Inc. (Ct. of Appeal, 1st App. Dis., Div. One, A140890, A141393), involved an $18,000,000 contract between Jacobs Facilities, Inc. (“Jacobs Facilities”) and the Judicial Council of California (“Judicial Council”). In April 2006, Jacobs Facilities, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. (“Jacobs Engineering”) entered into a three year contract with the Judicial Counsel to maintain 121 courthouses and other judicial branch buildings throughout Southern California (the “Contract”). Jacobs Facilities contracted to provide maintenance and oversight services, while retaining subcontractors to perform the actual maintenance and repair work. In December 2006, as part of a corporate reorganization, Jacobs Engineering started winding up Jacobs Facilities and transferred its employees to Jacobs Engineering and then subsequently to another wholly owned subsidiary called Jacobs Project Management Co. (“Jacobs Management”). The work that was performed by Jacobs Facilities was taken over by Jacobs Management. As part of the windup, Jacobs Facilities’ Contractor’s State License Board license was allowed to lapse and the license expired by operation of law in November 2008. Although Jacobs Management was now performing the work, it was not added as a party to the contract. Although it appears Judicial Council was aware of the corporate changes, it was not until November 2009 that the parties assigned the contract to Jacobs Management. Reprinted courtesy of Steven M. Cvitanovic, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP and David A. Harris, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP Mr. Cvitanovic may be contacted at scvitanovic@hbblaw.com Mr. Harris may be contacted at dharris@hbblaw.com Read the court decision
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A Race to the Finish on Oroville Dam Spillway Fix

October 09, 2018 — Scott Blair - Engineering News-Record
The Lake Oroville spillway’s 400-acre construction site is an intense flurry of activity. In one corner, an excavator driver uses an old tire as a squeegee to clean away loose rock and prep a foundation. In the steeply sloping spillway chute, a crane operator flies in a rebar cage to workers who tie it into neighboring chute wall segments. Everywhere, dump trucks buzz around the circuitous roadways while rock crushers and batch plants keep pace with dozens of dozers and excavators. Drones hover in the sky photographing and surveying the site, while inspectors pour over every detail of the finished assets. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Scott Blair, ENR
Mr. Blair may be contacted at blairs@enr.com

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