Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Meet Daniel Hall, Assistant Professor at TU Delft

January 17, 2023 — Aarni Heiskanen - AEC Business
We sat down with Daniel M. Hall, an assistant professor at TU Delft, to discuss ways of achieving circularity in the built environment. Daniel will be a keynote speaker at WDBE in September 2023, where he’ll talk more about future circular cities. Daniel is internationally known for his research on construction management and construction informatics. He did his Ph.D. at Stanford and worked for almost five years as an Assistant Professor of Innovative and Industrial Construction at ETH Zurich. In September 2022, he moved to the Netherlands. The Delft University of Technology, Daniel’s new home base, strongly emphasizes the circular economy and circularity and has a long history of excellent teaching and research. It provides an inspiring environment for innovating the future. Why we need to improve circularity in cities “We cannot keep building the way we’ve been building. We don’t have enough resources; we don’t have enough materials,” Daniel asserts. “Obviously, we have questions around carbon impact. Around 40 percent of all CO2 emissions come from a combination of building operations and building materials.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Aarni Heiskanen, AEC Business
Mr. Heiskanen may be contacted at aec-business@aepartners.fi

Second Circuit Court Differentiates the Standard for Determining Evident Partiality for a Neutral Arbitrator and a Party-Appointed Arbitrator

August 07, 2018 — Celia B. Waters - Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
On June 7, 2018, the Second Circuit Court in Certain Underwriting Members of Lloyds of London v. Fla., Dep’t of Fin. Servs.,1 held that a party-appointed arbitrator should not be held to the same standard as a neutral arbitrator. The Court vacated a district court’s order vacating an arbitral award in a reinsurance dispute between Insurance Company of Americas (“ICA”) and Certain Underwriting Members of Lloyds of London (“Underwriters”). The case was one of first impression for the Second Circuit on how to determine the standard of evident partiality challenged to a party-appointed arbitrator. Underwriters reinsured ICA under a series of treaties. The treaties each contained an arbitration clause requiring that disputes be adjudicated by an arbitration panel consisting of three members: one party-appointed arbitrator for each party, and a neutral. The clause required only that the arbitrators “be active or retired disinterested executive officers of insurance or reinsurance companies or Lloyd’s London Underwriters.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Celia B. Waters, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Ms. Waters may be contacted at cbw@sdvlaw.com

10 Year Anniversary – Congratulations Greg Podolak

November 23, 2016 — Edwin L. Doernberger – Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
2016 marks 10 years of successful practice for SDV Partner, Gregory Podolak. Greg has spent his entire professional career with Saxe, Doernberger & Vita, rising up the ranks from Summer Associate to Managing Partner of SDV’s first satellite office located in Naples, FL. Greg also manages SDV’s Cyber Risk group and is a nationally recognized author and speaker on the topic. Over the past decade, Greg has been honored with numerous awards, including the Connecticut Law Tribune’s 2015 New Leaders in the Law, and for the past five years in a row has been chosen as a Super Lawyers® Rising Star. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Edwin L. Doernberger, Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C.
Mr. Doernberger may be contacted at eld@sdvlaw.com

At Least 23 Dead as Tornadoes, Severe Storms Ravage South

March 18, 2019 — The Associated Press (Kim Chandler) - Bloomberg
Beauregard, Ala. (AP) -- A tornado roared into southeast Alabama and killed at least 23 people and injured several others Sunday, part of a severe storm system that caused catastrophic damage and unleashed other tornadoes around the Southeast. "Unfortunately our toll, as far as fatalities, does stand at 23 at the current time," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told WRBL-TV of the death toll. He added that two people were in intensive care. Drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors but the dangerous conditions halted the search late Sunday, Jones said. "The devastation is incredible," he said. An intense ground search would resume Monday morning. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Bloomberg

A Court-Side Seat: A FACA Fight, a Carbon Pledge and Some Venue on the SCOTUS Menu

November 02, 2020 — Anthony B. Cavender - Gravel2Gavel
In this summary of recent developments in environmental and regulatory law, venues are challenged, standing is upheld, statutory exemption is disputed and more. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT Change Must Come from Within … Maryland? As the new term begins, the Court has agreed to review BP PLC v. Mayor and City Council of Maryland, a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit which held that a climate change damages case filed against many energy companies must be heard in the state courts of Maryland and not the federal courts. The petitioners argue that the federal office removal statute authorizes such removal, and the Fourth Circuit’s contrary decision conflicts with rulings from other circuit courts. THE FEDERAL COURTS Where Is the Fund in That? On September 25,2020, in U.S. House of Representatives v. Mnuchin, et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that the lower court should not have dismissed a lawsuit filed by the U.S. House of Representatives challenging the Executive Branch’s transferal of appropriated funds to the Department of Defense to build a physical barrier along the southern border of the United State. The case is More than $8 billion is at stake, a sum that had been transferred from various federal accounts not involved with building the wall. The appeals court held that the lower court should not have dismissed this lawsuit because the House of Representatives had standing to bring this lawsuit even if the U.S. Senate was not involved with this litigation. Accordingly, the case was returned to the lower court for additional findings, with the appeals court noting that the Constitution’s Appropriation’s Clause serves as an important check on the Executive Branch. 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

Soldiers Turn Brickies as U.K. Homebuilders Seek Workers

May 20, 2015 — Neil Callanan – Bloomberg
After 21 years in the British Army that included tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, Ross Wilson was offered a buyout. Britain’s shortage of construction workers allowed him to trade desert sand for muddy building sites in the north of England. Wilson, 38, is working as an apprentice bricklayer for homebuilder Persimmon Plc, which will train more than 300 former soldiers this year because of the country’s shortage of skilled workers. The government formed after next month’s national election will have to urgently address the lack of new homes, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Persimmon’s Combat to Construction program is the latest effort by the industry to increase output as the shortage sends asking prices to record highs. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Neil Callanan, Bloomberg

Bid Bonds: The First Preventative Measure for Your Project

September 03, 2019 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
For this week’s Guest Post Friday, Construction Law Musings welcomes Danielle Rodabaugh. Danielle is a principal for Surety Bonds.com, an agency that issues surety bonds to individuals and businesses across the nation. She writes articles to clarify bonding rules and regulations for those who have a stake in the surety bond industry–from contractors to telemarketers, and every professional in between. In construction we often value performance and payment bonds when considering how to protect the financial investments put into a project. We do so because these bonds provide a legal financial guarantee that the selected contractor will fulfill the contract. However, a third, equally protective kind of construction bond is often overlooked. Before an official contract has been agreed to and successfully executed, bid bonds guarantee that the selected low-bidder will officially enter into the contract at a later date. Bidders must submit a bid bond with their bid. Without doing so, the bidder becomes non-responsive–or an invalid candidate. Sometimes we overlook the benefits provided by this kind of Virginia surety bond, and yet they frequently act as the only legal protection for a project prior to groundbreaking. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

Is it the End of the Lease-Leaseback Shootouts? Maybe.

September 07, 2020 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
It’s the case that has turned into a modern day Hatfield versus McCoy – McGee v. Torrance Unified School District, Case No. 8298122, 2nd District Court of Appeals (May 29, 2020) – a series of cases challenging the validity of certain lease-leaseback construction contracts in California. In shootout number one, James McGee sued the Torrance Unified School District challenging the validity of lease-leaseback contracts the District had entered into with general contractor Balfour Beatty Construction, LLC. Under California’s lease-leaseback statute, a school district can lease property it owns to a developer, who in turns builds a school facility on the property and leases the facility back to the school district. The primary benefit of the lease-leaseback method of project delivery is that a school district does not need to come up with money to build the facility because the district pays for the facility over time through lease payments to the developer. In shootout number one, McGee argued that Torrance Unified School District was required to competitively bid the lease-leasebacks projects. The 2nd District Court of Appeals disagreed. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Nomos LLP
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@nomosllp.com

FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES