A Retrospective As-Built Schedule Analysis Can Be Used to Support Delay
May 23, 2022 —
David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal UpdatesDelay claims are part of construction. There should be no surprise why. Time is money. A delay claim should be accompanied by expert opinions that bolster evidence that gets introduced. The party against whom the delay claim is made will also have an expert – a rebuttal expert. Not surprisingly, each of the experts will rely on a different critical path as to relates to the same project. The party claiming delay will rely on a critical path that shows the actions of the other party impacted their critical path and proximately caused the delay. This will be refuted by the opposing expert that will challenge the critical path and the actions claimed had no impact on the critical path (i.e., did not proximately cause the delay). Quintessential finger pointing!
This was the situation in CTA I, LLC v. Department of Veteran Affairs, CBCA 5826, 2022 WL 884710 (CBCA 2022), where the government terminated the contractor for convenience and the contractor claimed equitable adjustments for, among other things, delay. The contractor’s expert relied on an as-built critical path analysis by “retrospectively creating updates to insert between the contemporaneous updates.” Id., supra, n.3. The government’s expert did not do a retrospective as-built analysis and relied on only contemporaneous schedule updates. Id.
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David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at
dma@kirwinnorris.com
Congratulations to Nine Gibbs Giden Partners Selected to the 2023 Southern California Super Lawyers List
January 23, 2023 —
Gibbs Giden Locher Turner Senet & Wittbrodt, LLPNine Gibbs Giden partners have been selected to the 2023 Southern California Super Lawyers list for the third year in a row!
Congratulations to partners
Jason Adams
Barbara Gadbois
Sara Kornblatt
William Locher
Christopher Ng (Managing Partner)
Glenn Turner, III
Ted Senet
Richard Wittbrodt
Philip Zvonicek
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Congratulations 2024 DE, MA, MD, NJ, NY, and PA Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
June 17, 2024 —
White and Williams LLPWhite and Williams congratulates the fifteen attorneys nominated as Super Lawyers and ten attorneys named Rising Stars across our Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia offices. Lawyers are selected through a process that takes into consideration peer recognition and professional achievement. The lawyers named to this year’s list represent a multitude of practices throughout the firm.
Super Lawyers 2024
| Attorney |
Super Lawyers Denoted Practice Area (s)
| |
|---|
| David B. Chaffin |
Business Litigation |
| Robert G. Devine |
Personal Injury, Employment Litigation, Products Liability |
| David D. Gilliss |
Surety, Construction Litigation, Administrative Law |
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White and Williams LLP
Forget Backyard Pools, Build a Swimming Pond Instead
June 17, 2015 —
Mark Ellwood – BloombergNo self-respecting Californian can let the summer pass without a dip in the backyard—pools are as much a part of culture as the 49ers, Schwarzenegger, and dire earthquake warnings.
Now, though, there’s something unseemly about pooling so much water for the occasional swim—enough, in fact, to generate its own hashstag, #droughtshaming. There’s one surefire way to mitigate opprobrium: Build a natural swimming pond that’s specifically designed to minimize environmental impacts (or the cash premiums required to keep it up).
Typical is one example in Sonoma County, where the the water seems to leak down from the rock perched on the ridge. Like a natural spring, it trickles and tumbles, pooling into water features as it falls; one feature is full of aquatic plants and flowers, while another is a swimming hole—clear, cool and inviting. It was built by Dave Whitney, chief executive officer of Eco Solutions, a pioneer in engineering such eco swimming ponds. These dipping pools use natural filtration instead of chlorine pellets to keep the water clean.
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Mark Ellwood, Bloomberg
What ‘The Curse’ Gets Wrong About Passive House Architecture
April 02, 2024 —
Teresa Xie - BloombergIn the fifth episode of Showtime’s The Curse, two potential buyers are touring a boutique house in Española, a soon-to-be gentrified Santa Fe neighborhood when one of them makes a remark about the temperature. “Sorry, can I get a water? It’s just really hot in here,” he says, airing out his sweat-stained shirt. The quirky home’s architect-slash-developer, played by Emma Stone, says, “Sure!” and without skipping a beat, continues to explain the virtues of her passive house design: The home functions like a thermos, with no need for air conditioning — unless any air escapes the house. Then it takes five to seven hours for the room to recover.
Owning a passive house sounds like a nightmare, right? If you’re buying a one-of-a-kind, mirror-clad spec house from Stone and co-star Nathan Fielder, it may well be. On The Curse, the two play a do-gooder couple attempting to make an HGTV series (with Benny Safdie) about turning regular houses into carbon-neutral passive homes.
Odd things happen to Stone and Fielder over the show’s first season: trouble with the laws of gravity, the trials of a failing marriage and a literal curse from a small child. But the weirdest might be the show’s portrayal of passive house design, an energy-efficient design standard that has been around since the 1970s. Passive building, which has its origins in Europe, relies on advanced construction methods to seal a structure in an airtight envelope, thereby reducing energy consumption for heating and cooling by as much as 75%.
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Teresa Xie, Bloomberg
Amazon Can be Liable in Louisiana
August 05, 2024 —
Michael J. Ciamaichelo - The Subrogation StrategistIn June 2024, the Supreme Court of Louisiana held that: (1) Amazon can be considered a “seller” of defective products sold by third parties on its website; and (2) Amazon can be liable under a theory of negligent undertaking for third-party products. In Pickard v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2023-CQ-01596, 2024 La. LEXIS 1112, a Louisiana man, Archie Pickard, died from burns sustained in a house fire allegedly caused by a defective battery charger purchased on Amazon from a third-party seller located in China. Mr. Pickard’s family filed a lawsuit against Amazon in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana alleging claims under the Louisiana Products Liability Act (LPLA) and for negligent undertaking. Amazon filed a motion for summary judgment, which prompted the federal court to certify questions to the Supreme Court of Louisiana regarding these two claims.
Amazon Can be a “Seller” Under the Louisiana Products Liability Act
Amazon does not neatly fit within the definition of “seller” under the LPLA because the LPLA was drafted in 1988, before the internet existed. The LPLA defines a “seller” as a person or entity (who is not the manufacturer) who conveys title or possession of the product to another for something of value. La R.S. 9.2800.53(s) (emphasis added). The Supreme Court of Louisiana determined that Amazon was a “seller” because it conveyed “possession” of the charger to Mr. Pickard through the “Fulfillment by Amazon” (FBA) program, which provides storage, delivery, customer service, and returns of third-party products sold on Amazon. Most products on Amazon are sold by third parties, rather than Amazon. Many third-party sellers are small or medium-size companies, and some are individuals seeking to make supplemental income. Amazon offers the FBA program to handle storage and logistics to third-party sellers. When a product is sold through the FBA program, the seller sends the product to Amazon’s warehouses, where it is stored until it is purchased. When an FBA-product is purchased, Amazon collects payment, delivers the product (often in an Amazon van), and handles the potential return of the product. The Supreme Court of Louisiana determined that Amazon was a “seller” of the battery charger even though Amazon did not pass title to Mr. Pickard because: (1) Amazon had physical custody of the charger while stored in the warehouse; and (2) Amazon controlled the transaction and logistics through its FBA program.
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Michael J. Ciamaichelo, White and WilliamsMr. Ciamaichelo may be contacted at
ciamaichelom@whiteandwilliams.com
“Time Is Money!” In Construction and This Is Why There Is a Liquidated Damages Provision
February 01, 2022 —
David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal UpdatesIn construction, the adage “Time is Money!” rings true for all parties involved on a project. This includes an owner of a project that wants a project completed on time, i.e., by a substantial completion date. While substantial completion is often defined as when an owner can use a project for its intended purpose, this intended purpose typically equates to beneficial occupancy (in new construction) and other factors as identified in the contract.
The best mechanism for an owner to reinforce time and the substantial completion date is through a liquidated damages provision (also known as an LD provision) that includes a daily monetary rate for each day of delay to the substantial completion date.
A liquidated damages provision is not designed, and should NEVER be designed, to serve as a penalty because then it would be unenforceable. Instead, it should be designed to reasonably compensate an owner for delay to the substantial completion date that cannot be ascertained with any reasonable degree of certainty at the time the contract is being negotiated and executed. (Liquidated damages are MUCH easier to prove than actual damages an owner may incur down the road.) As an owner, you don’t really want to assess liquidated damages because that means the project is not substantially completed on time. And, in reality, a timely completed and performing project should always be better and more profitable than a late and underperforming project. However, without the liquidated damages provision, there isn’t a great way to hold a contractor’s feet to the fire with respect to the substantial completion date.
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David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at
dma@kirwinnorris.com
Insurers Get “Floored” by Court of Appeals Regarding the Presumptive Measure of Damages in Consent Judgments
May 13, 2014 —
Mark Scheer and Brent Williams-Ruth – Scheer & Zehnder LLPCASE: Miller v. Kenny, 68594-5-I, 2014 WL 1672946 (Wash. Ct. App. Apr. 28, 2014).
Snapshot Synopsis: $21 million bad faith consent judgment verdict upheld. $4.15 million underlying stipulated consent judgment was the “floor,” and additional damages allowed.
ISSUES:
1. Can a jury award damages for an insurer’s bad faith in excess of the amount of the stipulated covenant judgment? YES
2. Can a trial court admit evidence of insurance liability reserves in a bad faith action? YES
3. *Note: Other evidentiary and procedural issues were addressed by the court in its decision but not analyzed in this summary*
FACTS: This appeal arose out of an automobile accident on August 23, 2000. Patrick Kenny was driving a 1994 Volkswagen Passat owned by one of the passengers, when he rear-ended a cement truck. The accident severely injured his three passengers: Ryan Miller, Ashley Bethards, and Cassandra Peterson. Kenny was covered for liability under the insurance policy issued to Peterson's parents by Safeco Insurance Company. Safeco defended Kenny without a reservation of rights.
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Mark Scheer, Scheer & Zehnder LLP and
Brent Williams-Ruth, Scheer & Zehnder LLP
Mr. Scheer may be contacted at mscheer@scheerlaw.com; Mr. Williams-Ruth may be contacted at bwilliamsruth@scheerlaw.com
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