Seattle Washington Building Expert Directory

Timber Prices Likely to Keep Rising

October 30, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
Lumber prices are expected to keep rising, and according to Terry Shumacher, who does business acquisition for private equity firms, that’s a sign to invest in lumber stocks. Writing at Seeking Alpha, he looks at one such company, Tembec, the eleventh largest lumber producer in North America. Tembec is headquartered in Canada, but its stock trades on both the Canadian and American markets. Mr. Schumacher points out that one of the advantages of Tembec as an investment is that its stock is currently trading at about $2.59 a share, so a $50 per million board feet increase in the cost of lumber would make a large percentage change to its earnings to price ratio. (As comparison, Mr. Schumacher offers West Fraser, which is trading at about $89.59. There, the increase in lumber prices would have a much smaller effect on the stock price.) There’s going to be a greater demand for lumber, not only due to increased housing starts but that North American firms have started exporting lumber to China. Add to that the loss of trees in some areas due to beetle infestations. The death of standing timber has lead to some sawmills shutting down for lack of logs. All of which points to increased timber prices. Read the court decision
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Best Lawyers Recognizes Twenty White and Williams Lawyers

September 04, 2018 — White and Williams LLP
Twenty White and Williams lawyers were recognized on the 2019 Best Lawyers in America list. Inclusion in Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer-review. The methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area. Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of quality legal services. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of White and Williams LLP

Fourth Circuit Confirms Scope of “Witness Litigation Privilege”

November 21, 2018 — Anthony B. Cavender - Gravel2Gavel
On October 26, in the case of Day v. Johns Hopkins Health Sys. Corp., divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s ruling that the common law “Witness Litigation Privilege” protects an expert witness in a Black Lung Benefits Act benefits proceeding against civil claims that allege a federal RICO violation and Maryland state law claims for fraud, tortious interference, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment attended the testimony of the expert witness. 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

Nine ACS Lawyers Recognized as Super Lawyers – Two Recognized as Rising Stars

August 26, 2024 — Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC
Going outside the norm of our blogs, which usually discuss construction related issues, Ahlers, Cressman, & Sleight is pleased to announce that nine members of our firm have been selected to the 2024 Washington Super Lawyers list. Each year, a rigorous process that involves a nomination by peers and a third-party verification of honors, awards, verdicts, settlements, and other criteria relating to their work as an attorney, aims to select no more than five percent of the lawyers in Washington state from no more than seventy practice areas for this distinction. As mentioned, the first step in the process is to be evaluated on their work as an attorney, next candidates are evaluated by their peers and given ratings based on the information known about their work. Finally, candidates are grouped into four firm-size categories and final selections are made. The grouping process is done so that candidates are compared fairly to their peers by firm size, eliminating the potential unfairness that comes with comparing large and small firm outcomes and attorney practices. The Rising Star list involves an even narrower criteria than the Super Lawyers list. The initial process is the same, however, candidates for the Rising Stars list must be under the age of forty or have less than ten years of experience. For this category less the two and a half percent of lawyers in Washington are selected, making this quite a feat for those who have accomplished the honor. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC

Lessons from the Sept. 19 Mexico Earthquake

October 19, 2017 — Nadine M. Post - Engineering News-Record
On the 32nd anniversary of the magnitude-8.1 earthquake that devastated Mexico City on Sept. 19, 1985, 41 U.S. seismic experts were in a workshop near Los Angeles, polishing a new tool to identify “killer” buildings: non-ductile concrete structures that often perform poorly in quakes. Suddenly, the attendees started getting pager alerts from the U.S. Geological Survey: A magnitude-7.1 quake had struck about 120 kilometers from Mexico City. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Nadine M. Post, ENR
Ms. Post may be contacted at postn@enr.com

Construction is the Fastest Growing Industry in California

May 20, 2015 — Garret Murai – California Construction Law Blog
We wrote earlier about why construction workers are the happiest employees on Earth, and pointed to one possible factor: That construction, which was one of the hardest hit industries during the 2008 real estate collapse, has since bounced back. This past month, the California Employment Development Department (“EDD”) released data putting some numbers to that hypothesis. And the result: According to the EDD, over the past 12 months, construction was the fastest growing industry in California, adding more than 46,000 jobs within the last year, an increase of 6.9% from 667,000 workers in March 2014 to 713,000 workers in March 2015. 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

Mediation v. Arbitration, Both Private Dispute Resolution but Very Different Sorts

January 24, 2018 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
I often get calls from clients, potential construction clients, and other construction and business professionals with questions about arbitration or mediation clauses in the contracts that they are reviewing or drafting. When I get these calls, it often becomes clear that, understandably, there is some confusion as to what each of these alternate dispute resolution processes entails. I thought I’d put together a quick primer on what each is and their differences. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Christopher G. Hill, The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

Home Construction Slows in Las Vegas

November 27, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
Although home builders in the Las Vegas area are doing better than they were in 2012, growth is still slow and October saw a decline in the sale of new homes. However, as with other areas, the average home price actually increased over prior months, despite the cooling off the actual number of sales. Taken as a whole though, 2013 looks a lot better than 2012, with 44% more homes sold this year. Dennis Smith, the president of Home Builders Research said that 2013 “will be remembered as ‘the year of recovery,’” but added that “there is still a long path ahead for everyone to feel a sense of comfort.” Read the court decision
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SEATTLE WASHINGTON BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES