Seattle Washington Building Expert Directory

D.R. Horton Earnings Rise as Sales and Order Volume Increase

May 07, 2015 — John Gittelsohn – Bloomberg
D.R. Horton Inc., the largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue, said fiscal second-quarter earnings rose as sales increased in a sign of growing demand for new homes. Net income climbed to $147.9 million, or 40 cents a share, for the three months ended March 31 from $131 million, or 38 cents, a year earlier, the Fort Worth, Texas-based company said Wednesday in a statement. The average of 15 analyst estimates was 38 cents a share, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The spring selling season at D.R. Horton is off to a strong start,” Chairman Donald R. Horton said in the statement. “Our increasingly diverse product offerings are enabling us to expand our industry-leading market share.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of John Gittelsohn, Bloomberg
Mr. Gittelsohn may be contacted at johngitt@bloomberg.net

The Court-Side Seat: FERC Reviews, Panda Power Plaints and Sovereign Immunity

April 26, 2021 — Anthony B. Cavender - Gravel2Gavel
This is a brief report on new environmental law decisions, regulations and legislation. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT Massachusetts Lobsterman’s Association v. Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce On March 22, 2021, the Supreme Court rejected a petition to review a Presidential decision to invoke the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate as a monument “an area of submerged land about the size of Connecticut” in the Atlantic Ocean. This action forbids all sorts of economic activity, which compelled the filing of litigation in the First Circuit challenging this designation. Chief Justice Roberts supported the Court’s denial of certiorari, but remarked that a stronger legal case may persuade the Court to review such liberal uses of the Antiquities Act. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Anthony B. Cavender, Pillsbury
Mr. Cavender may be contacted at anthony.cavender@pillsburylaw.com

Mutual Or Concurrent Delay Caused By Subcontractors

March 23, 2020 — David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal Updates
How are delay damages treated when two subcontractors cause a mutual or concurrent delay to the project? Assume multiple subcontractors concurrently contributed to an impact to the critical path resulting in a delay to the project. The delay caused the prime contractor to: (1) be assessed liquidated damages from the owner and (2) incur extended general conditions. The prime contractor will be looking to the subcontractors for reimbursement for any liquidated damages it is assessed along with its extended general conditions costs. There is really no great case that addresses this point when two (or more) subcontractors mutually or concurrently delay the project. It is also not uncommon, and frankly expected, that a subcontractor will point the finger at another subcontractor for the cause of the delay or that another subcontractor was concurrently delaying the project. The prime contractor should absolutely, without any exception, undertake efforts with a scheduling consultant to allocate the delay caused by subcontractors. Taking an approach that joint and several liability applies between multiple subcontractors and/or not trying to apportion delay because the subcontractors concurrently delayed the critical path at the same time is probably not the best approach. The prime contractor should have an expert render an opinion as to the allocation of the delay period amongst responsible subcontractors that delayed the critical path. Not doing so, in my opinion, is a mistake. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.
Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at dma@kirwinnorris.com

Sellers' Alleged Misrepresentation Does Not Amount To An Occurrence

November 30, 2020 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The insurer successfully established on summary judgment that the insureds' alleged misrepresentation in the sale of a condominium was not an occurrence. Novak v. St. Maxent-Wimberly House Condo., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167397 (E.D. La. Sept. 14, 2020). State Farm issued the sellers a condominium unit owner's policy. The buyers sued the sellers, contending the sellers had made misrepresentations in the sale process. The sellers allegedly failed to disclose defects in the condominium before and at the time of the sale. State Farm intervened, seeking a declaration that it was not required to defend or indemnify the sellers because there was no occurrence. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

Courthouse Reporter Series: The Travails of Statutory Construction...Defining “Labor” under the Miller Act

August 01, 2023 — Brendan J. Witry - The Dispute Resolver
In a recent case—United States ex rel. Dickson v. Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland (“Dickson”)—the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently re-examined and defined what work qualifies as “labor” under the Miller Act. United States ex rel. Dickson v. Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland, No. 21-160, 67 F.4th 182 (4th Cir. April 26, 2023) (slip op.). Unlike private projects, unpaid subcontractors cannot encumber the federal government’s property with mechanics liens. Instead, the Miller Act provides a remedy for subcontractors in the form of a payment bond on all federal public works contracts exceeding $100,000. 40 U.S.C. § 3131(b). In the Dickson case, Claimant Elliot Dickson served as a subcontractor to Forney Enterprises (“Forney”), with whom the Department of Defense (the “DOD”) contracted to renovate several staircases and the fire suppression systems at the Pentagon. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Brendan J. Witry, Conway & Mrowiec Attorneys LLLP
Mr. Witry may be contacted at bjw@cmcontractors.com

Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Vexed by Low Demand for Mortgages

April 15, 2014 — Zachary Tracer – Bloomberg
Slack demand for home loans continued to drag on earnings at Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) as the two largest U.S. mortgage lenders grappled for pieces of a shrunken market. Even as interest rates hovered near historically low levels, new home loans tumbled 67 percent to $36 billion in the first quarter at San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the biggest originator. JPMorgan posted a 68 percent drop to $17 billion, and the bank predicted it would lose money on mortgage production for the full year. Both lenders are paring staff to keep expenses in line with demand for loans, which has waned as investors and cash buyers dominate some sales. New York-based JPMorgan said jobs at its mortgage business declined 14,000, or 30 percent, since the start of last year. Wells Fargo set plans to cut 1,100 positions in the most recent three months, which ranked as its worst first quarter for mortgage revenue since 2008. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Zachary Tracer, Bloomberg
Mr. Tracer may be contacted at ztracer1@bloomberg.net

Surviving the Construction Law Backlog: Nontraditional Approaches to Resolution

June 07, 2021 — Jeffrey Kozek - Construction Executive
Across the construction industry, COVID-19’s impact has caused a range of problems for contractors and projects—prolonged or intermittent work shutdowns, supply chain delays, pricing increases on materials and funding shortfalls. It has also led to court closures. The legal backlog for claims and disputes means that owners and contractors are facing the option of waiting until the courts are functioning the way they were previously or utilizing alternative approaches to resolution to keep projects and businesses running. Though courts across the country reopened to some extent in the latter half of 2020, many state and federal facilities were shut down or working with a limited capability for weeks or months. The closures not only froze the progress of numerous disputes already underway, but caused new schedule, cost and COVID-19-related claims to also be held up in the same backlog that is slowly being addressed under current restricted operations. New safety measures to reduce viral transmission, including reduced usage of courtrooms, restrictions on personnel and increased cleaning and sanitizing measures, have limited the number of cases courts can handle on a daily basis and lengthened legal timelines in ways many parties had not anticipated and cannot afford. Reprinted courtesy of Jeffrey Kozek, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the court decision
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Commercial Construction in the Golden State is Looking Pretty Golden

August 26, 2015 — Garret Murai – California Construction Law Blog
If the $2.1 trillion erased from the U.S. stock market over the last week has you white knuckled, you might consider commercial construction in the Golden State, where things are looking . . . well . . . pretty golden. According to the Summer/Fall 2015 Commercial Real Estate Survey jointly published by Allen Matkins and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, commercial construction in California has risen to its highest level since 2001. The survey, conducted of commercial real estate developers and financiers and their outlook for seven metropolitan regions in California including the East Bay, the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco and Silicon Valley, found that all respondents expressed optimism (characterized as an optimism sentiment above 50) that office, multifamily, industrial and retail construction would grow over the next three-years although it varied depending on the region and sentiment was at times lower than when the survey was last taken last year. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@wendel.com

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