Columbus Ohio Building Expert Directory

Three Kahana Feld Attorneys Selected to 2024 NY Metro Super Lawyers Lists

October 28, 2024 — Linda Carter - Kahana Feld
Kahana Feld is pleased to announce that Tim Capowski was selected to the 2024 NY Metro Super Lawyers list, and Christopher Theobalt and Sofya Uvaydov were selected to the 2024 NY Metro Rising Stars list. All three attorneys were recognized in the Appellate practice area. Tim Capowski is a partner at Kahana Feld and chair of the firm’s National Appellate Litigation & Consulting Group. He has spent the better part of three decades at the forefront of the insurance defense bar. Tim has litigated hundreds of appeals and thousands of motions in state and federal and appellate courts throughout New York and around the country. He handles a variety of complex litigation including catastrophic property and casualty claims, construction defect, professional liability, labor and employment law, mass torts, insurance coverage, and more. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Linda Carter, Kahana Feld
Ms. Carter may be contacted at lcarter@kahanafeld.com

Franchisors Should Consider Signing a Conditional Lease Assignment Rather Than a Franchisee’s Lease

November 17, 2016 — Richard H. Herold – Real Estate Litigation Blog
In Franchise & High Properties, LLC v. Happy’s Franchise, LLC, a 2015 decision issued by the Court of Appeals in Michigan, the franchisor, Happy’s Pizza Franchise, LLC, signed a five-year lease for the commercial space to be occupied by its franchisee, Happy’s Pizza #19, Inc. The franchisor did so to secure a right of first refusal to purchase the property and to enforce the franchise agreement to have the lease assigned to the franchisor if the franchisee defaulted. The issue in the case was whether the term “tenant” referred solely to Happy’s Pizza #19 or whether it also included Happy’s Franchise as a co-tenant. “Tenant” was defined as follows: “Happy’s Pizza #19, Inc., 29102 Telegraph Road, Suite 607, Southfield, MI 48034, the lessee, and Happy’s Pizza Franchise, LLC, a Michigan limited liability company (hereinafter referred to as `Franchisor’), hereinafter designated as the Tenant.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Richard H. Herold, Real Estate Litigation Blog
Mr. Herold may be contacted at rherold@swlaw.com

Landmark San Diego Hotel Settles Defects Suit for $6.4 Million

March 04, 2011 — Beverley BevenFlorezCDJ STAFF

After five years of legal battles, the condo owners of the El Cortez Hotel building in downtown San Diego settled for $6.4 million, as reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune on March 28, 2011. The Homeowners Association will net just over $3 million from the settlement.

The litigation may have had an adverse effect on the value of the condos within the El Cortez Hotel building. According to an article by Kelly Bennett of Voice of San Diego, “Many condos in the building originally sold for more than $600,000. Currently, the three units on the market are asking for just more than $200,000, the U-T said.”

Andrew Berman, the owners’ attorney, told The San Diego Union-Tribune that the five years of litigation included six lawsuits, 200 depositions, and multiple construction tests.

Read the full story... (San Diego Union Tribune)

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Poor Record Keeping = Going to the Poor House (or, why project documentation matters)

June 11, 2014 — Melissa Dewey Brumback – Construction Law in North Carolina
You are an engineer or architect. You understand the importance of thorough designs. What about thorough documentation of the daily happenings on the construction project? That is equally important. As regular readers of this blog know, I have often spoken of the importance of proper record keeping on construction projects. In fact, lack of good project records is one of the 7 mistakes in my white paper 7 Critical Mistakes that Engineers & Architects make During Project Negotiation and Execution that Sabotage their Projects & Invite Litigation. Now, a construction management expert, who, like me, sees the ugly when construction projects turn bad, has weighed in with perhaps the authoritative reasoning and rationale (pdf) for good project records. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Melissa Dewey Brumback, Construction Law in North Carolina
Ms. Brumback may be contacted at mbrumback@rl-law.com

Public Policy Prevails: Homebuilders and Homebuyers Cannot Agree to Disclaim Implied Warranty of Habitability in Arizona

November 01, 2022 — Ryan Bennett - The Subrogation Strategist
In Zambrano v. M & RC II LLC, et al., 2022 Ariz. LEXIS 309, the Supreme Court of Arizona held that a homebuilder and homebuyer could not waive or disclaim the implied warranty of workmanship and habitability. While the court would normally enforce a contract between two parties – even if one side made a “bad deal” – they will not do so if the contract’s terms are against public policy. In this case, Tina Zambrano (Zambrano) signed a purchase agreement with the homebuilder to buy a newly built home. The agreement included provisions which expressly disclaimed any implied warranties, including the warranty of habitability and workmanship. After the purchase, Zambrano claimed that there were construction defects within the home, including popped nails in the drywall and issues with the home’s foundation. Zambrano sued the homebuilder for breach of the implied warranty of workmanship and habitability. The homebuilder moved for summary judgment based on the waivers within the contract and the trial court, agreeing that the waivers applied, dismissed the case. Zambrano appealed and the appellate court reversed the trial court’s decision. The appellate court specifically explained that Arizona has a public policy interest in protecting consumers. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Ryan Bennett, White and Williams LLP
Mr. Bennett may be contacted at bennettr@whiteandwilliams.com

2018 Super Bowl US. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis

February 07, 2018 — Dave Suggs - CDJ STAFF
After the collapse of the Viking’s previous stadium due to snow in 2010, it was clear that a new facility was needed to endure the Minnesota weather. The new U.S. Bank Stadium was built to withstand the harshest of weather conditions while also saving energy according to Marlene Cimons’ article “Cutting-Edge Design on Display at Super Bowl LII” featured on Nexus Media website. The stadium’s roof melts snow quickly by deflecting sunlight and because of its sharp pitch the snow slides easily into a big gutter. The roof also lets in sunlight which saves electricity and creates the feeling of being outdoors. Solar heating is used to recirculate warm air from above down to spectators below. “It is also the first NFL stadium to be built with LED lighting, which uses 75 percent less electricity than metal halide lighting typically deployed in stadiums.” The stadium is dedicated to becoming a zero-waste facility and currently saves water by using low-flow faucets. Sport and Sustainability chairman Allen Hershkowitz said of the stadium, “as one of the most visible sporting events in the world, the Super Bowl has a unique opportunity to promote environmental literacy and reduce cultural polarization related to climate change.” Read the court decision
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How to Survive the Insurance Claim Process Before It Starts –Five Tips to Keep Your Insurance Healthy

December 15, 2016 — Robert K. Scott – Newmeyer & Dillion LLP
Every day we read about fires, floods and other tragedies that occur. They seem to be so prevalent, now than ever before. The old notion that “it can’t happen to my family” is not the best approach to being ready if you are faced with a claim. Preparation is the key to readiness in the world of insurance. These five tips can easily be implemented just in case:

Check your coverage now – not after a catastrophic event for your family. Know and ask in writing if all your insurance needs are covered and your financial limits are sufficient. A phone call to your agent or broker can start the process, but at the conclusion of the process confirm any advice or adjustments in writing, and save it in your insurance file. Policies and important correspondence can be imaged and saved in the cloud so it’s retrievable if a big loss occurs. Ask your child or grandchild how to do this if you do not understand the cloud storage and retrieval system.
Video your belongings and save in the cloud. – Use your smart phone to video your home, contents, boats, etc. Talk about the items in the viewfinder as you go. If there are expensive personal items, note their worth and ask your agent or broker if such items need to be “scheduled”---detailed with agreed upon amounts. You pay a little extra on these items but you can then recover their actual value if lost. Most “personal property” items fall under a general category under most homeowner policies and may not be sufficient.

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Reprinted courtesy of Robert K. Scott, Newmeyer & Dillion LLP
Mr. Scott may be contacted at Robert.scott@ndlf.com

Safety Versus a False Sense of Security: Challenges to the Use of Construction Cranes

March 18, 2019 — Christopher Machut - Construction Executive
The history of safety is, in part, the history of resistance to safety. From transportation and travel to sports and entertainment, the safeguards taken for granted were once too allegedly controversial or costly for companies to grant to consumers. Imagine driving a car without a seatbelt or being a passenger in a minivan without side-impact airbags or anti-lock brakes, or playing football without a helmet or riding a roller coaster without a shoulder harness. Imagine, too, pulling out of parking space without a rear-view camera, unable to see passing cars or pedestrians. Cameras are now as common among compact cars as on the most uncommonly expensive sports cars and sedans. And yet, the technology that earns drivers a discount on car insurance is the same or mostly similar technology that insurers refuse to cover elsewhere. The technologies that makes parallel parking easier or easing a car into traffic a cinch is considered an extravagance on construction equipment, despite the dangers crane operators face but cannot see, despite what workers on the ground can see but not forecast, despite what cameras can record and capture. Reprinted courtesy of Christopher Machut, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the court decision
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COLUMBUS OHIO BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES