Cambridge Massachusetts Building Expert Directory

Sanibel Causeway Repair: Contractors Flooded Site With Crews, Resources

November 15, 2022 — Derek Lacey - Engineering News-Record
After Hurricane Ian slammed into southwest Florida, washing out the Sanibel Causeway and cutting off thousands of Sanibel Island residents, another flood hit the area: construction crews and resources that swarmed the area to rebuild two roadway sections and five washed-out approaches to restore access. Reprinted courtesy of Derek Lacey, Engineering News-Record Mr. Lacey may be contacted at laceyd@enr.com Read the full story... Read the court decision
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Newmeyer Dillion Announces Jessica Garland as Its Newest Partner

January 16, 2024 — Newmeyer Dillion
NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. – January 10, 2024 – Prominent business and real estate law firm Newmeyer Dillion is pleased to announce that Newport Beach attorney Jessica Garland has been elected to partnership. Garland focuses her practice on employment law and construction law. In her employment practice, Jessica defends companies against numerous types of employment-related claims including claims for discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, retaliation, unfair competition, wage and hour violations, employee misclassifications, and Cal/OSHA citations. Garland's practice also includes work in residential and commercial construction. Jessica represents residential developers in complex, multi-party construction defect disputes. In commercial construction, Jessica is focused on defending general contractors in all aspects of construction litigation including delay claims, mechanic's lien claims, defect litigation claims, ADA claims, and construction contract disputes. About Newmeyer Dillion For over 35 years, Newmeyer Dillion has delivered creative and outstanding legal solutions and trial results that achieve client objectives in diverse industries. With over 60 attorneys working as a cohesive team to represent clients in all aspects of business, employment, real estate, environmental/land use, privacy & data security and insurance law, Newmeyer Dillion delivers holistic and integrated legal services tailored to propel each client's operations, growth, and profits. Headquartered in Newport Beach, California, with offices in Walnut Creek, California and Las Vegas, Nevada, Newmeyer Dillion attorneys are recognized by The Best Lawyers in America©, and Super Lawyers as top tier and some of the best lawyers in California and Nevada, and have been given Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review's AV Preeminent® highest rating. For additional information, call 949.854.7000 or visit www.newmeyerdillion.com. Read the court decision
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Climate-Proofing Your Home: Upgrades to Weather a Drought

January 03, 2022 — Todd Woody - Bloomberg
Climate-driven drought is making the once unthinkable foreseeable. Amid water shortages, your faucets could run dry, as has been a possibility in Marin County, California. Violate mandatory water restrictions and you might face steep fines or even a cutoff of service. With the western United States in the grip of an extreme drought, rivers and reservoirs are at record lows and some water utility districts in California have asked residents to curtail consumption by as much as 40%. A 2019 study found regions across the nation could face water shortages in the coming decades in part due to climate change. That puts a premium on making homes more resilient to drought by maximizing efficiency and minimizing waste through technologies that monitor consumption and recycle and capture water that would otherwise be lost. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Todd Woody, Bloomberg

Historical Long-Tail Claims in California Subject to a Vertical Exhaustion Rule

December 03, 2024 — Will S. Bennett - Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.

California’s complex saga of long-tail injury coverage under general liability policies took an interesting turn in the California Supreme Court’s recent decision in Truck Ins. Exch. v. Kaiser Cement.¹ In Truck, the court made it clear that Insureds can access excess policy limits without first exhausting all triggered underlying primary coverage, provided the underlying limits for the same policy period have been exhausted.

A Brief Summary of the History of Coverage for Long-Tail Claims in California²

Understanding the contextual significance of Truck requires a brief survey of California’s gradually developed case law with respect to long-tail progressive injury and damage claims. A “long-tail claim” typically involves progressively manifesting damage, injury, or disease that develops over a period of multiple years. Because general liability insurance is traditionally triggered based on the timing of when bodily injury or property damage occurs, the progressive nature of these claims has led many courts to analyze when injury or damage occurs in these claims. In doing so, California courts have generally found that these injuries occur across numerous years, thereby triggering numerous policies.³

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Reprinted courtesy of Will S. Bennett, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Mr. Bennett may be contacted at WBennett@sdvlaw.com

President Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Requires a Viable Statutory Framework (PPP Statutes)[i]

April 13, 2017 — John P. Ahlers - Ahlers & Cressman PLLC
Although we live in a politically-divided nation, there is one issue on which there seems widespread agreement: our country requires a massive upgrade to its infrastructure. Rundown airports, crumbling highways, obsolete ports, and dangerous bridges are now endemic across the United States. By contrast, Asian airports and elegant European bridges and rails show that our country needs an upgrade, the cost of which will be enormous. President Trump promised to revitalize America’s aging roads, bridges, railways, and airports. He chose Wilbur Ross for Commerce Secretary and professor of Conservative Economics and Public Policy, Peter Navarro, to formulate an infrastructure plan. Navarro and Ross recommended that the government allocate $137 billion in tax credits for private investors who underwrite infrastructure projects. They estimate that over the next ten years, the credits could spur $1 trillion in investments. That is how much President Trump promised to spend on infrastructure, a key part of his job-creation plan. His plan involves building the infrastructure with private-money financing. Public Private Partnerships (“PPP”) are not a new concept and have been successful in Canada, Europe, and various U.S. states who have pioneered this method of procurement. Federal tax credits have been used to spur private investment in housing, resulting in tens of thousands of low-income housing developments over the years. The credits are sold to private entities such as banks and equity firms that invest anywhere from $.70 to $1.10 in housing developments for every dollar they receive in credits, a ratio that fluctuates with economic conditions. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of John P. Ahlers, Ahlers & Cressman PLLC
Mr. Ahlers may be contacted at jahlers@ac-lawyers.com

Manhattan Condo Lists for Record $150 Million

February 18, 2015 — Oshrat Carmiel – Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- Manhattan’s ultra-luxury condo market has a new high-water mark: $150 million. That’s the price set by developer Chetrit Group for a 21,500-square-foot (2,000-square-meter) triplex at the former Sony Building in Midtown, according to documents filed with the New York State attorney general’s office. It would be a record for a residential listing, topping a $130 million offering planned at Zeckendorf Development Co.’s 520 Park Ave. As luxury apartments proliferate in Manhattan, builders are offering their premier units at ever-higher prices as a way of standing out from the crowd, said Jonathan Miller, president of New York appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. So far, the highest price ever paid for a condominium in the city is $100.5 million, a deal completed in December for a duplex penthouse at the One57 tower. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Oshrat Carmiel, Bloomberg
Ms. Carmiel may be contacted at ocarmiel1@bloomberg.net

Terminator’s Trench Rehab Drives L.A. Land Prices Crazy

June 26, 2014 — John Gittelsohn and Alan Ohnsman – Bloomberg
Ben Stapleton frames the shot with his hands like a movie director, sharing his vision of a junkyard he’s trying to sell for $3.5 million. He sees artist workspaces, retail shops and apartments with Los Angeles skyline views, steps from a riverfront oasis. Right now the river of his dreams is the concrete flood channel where an 18-wheeler chased Arnold Schwarzenegger on a Harley in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” one of the movies that used the 200-foot-wide (60-meter) ditch to depict industrial bleakness. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to return the Los Angeles River to a more natural state would cost $1 billion and has speculators circling even before the funding’s in place. “The private money is already moving,” said Stapleton, a vice president at commercial real-estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL) “They’re looking for opportunities. It’s the private money that’s going to make the vision happen.” Mr. Gittelsohn may be contacted at johngitt@bloomberg.net; Mr. Ohnsman may be contacted at aohnsman@bloomberg.net Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of John Gittelsohn and Alan Ohnsman, Bloomberg

Will The New U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Deal Calm Industry Jitters?

January 13, 2020 — Bruce Buckley - Engineering News-Record
News that House Democrats and the Trump administration have come to an agreement on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) provided a bit of calm in the storm over trade policies that have roiled the construction market since 2017. Bruce Buckley, Engineering News-Record ENR may be contacted at ENR.com@bnpmedia.com Read the full story... Read the court decision
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CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES