Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Senate Committee Approves Military Construction Funds

June 29, 2011 — CDJ STAFF

With a decrease in funding, as compared to the House bill, the Military Construction and Veteran’s Affairs subcommittee of the Senate moved on a $72 billion construction bill. The House version had approved an additional half billion dollars in funding. Senator Tim Johnson, Democrat of South Carolina, said that he expected easy reconciliation with the House version. The Senate bill will move to the full Senate Appropriations Committee on June 30.

The bill, S 1255, includes funding for construction and remodeling of military housing, as well as construction and remodeling of base facilities.

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AB5 Construction Exemption - A Checklist to Avoid Application of AB5's Three-Part Test

May 18, 2020 — Blake A. Dillion - Payne & Fears
Construction companies have a unique opportunity to avoid the application of the restrictive new independent contractors' law that took effect this year. This article provides a checklist that will help construction companies determine whether their relationships with subcontractors qualify for this exemption. California’s Assembly Bill 5 (“AB5”), which went into effect Jan. 1, 2020, enacts into a statute last year’s California Supreme Court decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 4 Cal. 5th 903 (2018), and the Court’s three-part standard (the “ABC test”) for determining whether a worker may be classified as an employee or an independent contractor. Certain professions and industries are potentially exempt from this standard, including the construction industry. The ABC test does not apply to the relationship between a contractor and an individual performing work pursuant to a subcontractor in the construction industry if certain criteria are met. In order for the “construction exemption” to apply, the contractor must demonstrate that all of the following criteria are satisfied. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Blake A. Dillion, Payne & Fears
Mr. Dillion may be contacted at bad@paynefears.com

Too Late for The Blame Game: Massachusetts Court Holds That the Statute of Repose Barred a Product Manufacturer from Seeking Contribution from a Product Installer

March 21, 2022 — Gus Sara - The Subrogation Strategist
In State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Wangs Alliance Corp., No. 21-cv-10389-AK, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26712, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (District Court) considered whether a product manufacturer was barred by the Commonwealth’s six-year statute of repose for improvements to real property from joining the installer of the product as a third-party defendant. The court denied the defendant’s motion for leave to file a third-party complaint to join the installer, finding that the installer completed its work more than six years prior to the motion being filed. This case reminds us that Massachusetts’ six-year statute of repose for improvement to real property also bars a defendant’s contribution claims against third parties. The Wangs Alliance case involves a subrogation action filed by State Farm Fire & Casualty Insurance (Insurer) against Wangs Alliance Corp. (Wangs), a manufacturer of rope lighting. Insurer insured the homeowners, who experienced a fire in their home in 2018. The home was originally built in 2002 by Wellen Construction (Wellen). As part of the original construction, Wellen installed rope lighting manufactured by Wangs in the house. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Gus Sara, White and Williams
Mr. Sara may be contacted at sarag@whiteandwilliams.com

Duty to Defend Triggered by Damage to Other Non-Defective Property

February 20, 2023 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The court found the insurer must defend because there was a possibility of damage to property due to work not performed by the insured. B&W Paving & Landscape, LLC v. Employers Mut. Cas. Co., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 225783 (D. Conn. Dec. 15, 2022). In 2010, Whiting Turner Contracting Company (WT) contracted with United Illuminating Company (UI) to act as general contractor for the construction of UI's new central facility. WT subcontracted with Cherry Hill Construction, Inc. (Cherry Hill) for work underneath the parking lot and driveways, including installing base and sub base materials. WT also subcontracted with B&W Paving and Landscape, LLC (B&W) for the asphalt paving. In 2018, UI sued WT for defective and incomplete work. WT then filed a third-party compact against its subcontractors, including B&W. WT sued for contribution for any liability it may have to UI for the paving work. 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

Going Digital in 2019: The Latest Technology for a Bright Future in Construction

February 18, 2019 — Jim Romeo - Construction Executive
The spectrum of technology available to today’s contractors is wide and deep. This techno-ecosystem will change just about every operational tick and tock needed to build world-class projects—from where and how people work to what equipment they use and how they record payments. “Generally speaking, the use of technology in construction is surging, particularly in the past three to five years,” says Chris Amato, principal and national advisory leader for the Chicago-based management consultancy Grant Thornton. “It’s becoming the cost of doing business; every player, at some point or another, is going to need to embrace it to some degree. The key questions are where to start, where to invest and how to minimize risk.” Reprinted courtesy of Jim Romeo, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Read the court decision
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Natural Disasters’ Impact on Construction in the United States

December 14, 2020 — Robert S. Peckar & Crystal T. Dang - Construction Executive
In these times of easy and instant access to news from around the globe, the effects of major earthquakes in Indonesia and Mexico, cyclones in Southeast Asia, Tsunamis around the world, volcanoes in Europe in unexpected places and, of course, raging forest fires and hurricanes in the United States are frequently in the news. Accompanying each of these disasters are immediate threats to construction projects, both physical and those affecting the safety and health of personnel. However, after the dust settles or the waters recede, myriad issues will become obstacles to the road to recovery for a contractor to navigate. In 2020 alone, the volume of strong storms and forest fires have focused so much attention on the impact of disasters. The purpose of this article is to provide guidelines in anticipation of disasters, for reviewing the impact of a disaster as it is happening, and developing a mitigation plan to limit losses. Anticipating Disasters The best time to prepare for a disaster on a project is before the project starts. Reviewing contract rights, insurance policies and company disaster response protocols while a category 3 hurricane is a day away is not a best practice. To avoid falling into that situation, a contractor should follow the following guidelines. Doing so facilitates proper action during the actual disaster itself and in the aftermath. Reprinted courtesy of Robert S. Peckar & Crystal T. Dang, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved. Mr. Peckar may be contacted at rpeckar@pecklaw.com Ms. Dang may be contacted at cdang@pecklaw.com Read the court decision
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Companies Move to Houston Area and Spur Home Building

December 30, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
A number of companies are developing commercial properties in the Kingwood area of the Houston metropolitan region and that’s spurring residential development as well. According to the Houston Chronicle, a number of key industries will be moving the area. And it’s leading to a lot of residential and commercial development. The 4,000-acre mixed-use development Generation Park will include offices, hotels, shops, and other amenities. But an important part of its success is expected to come from the adjacent master-planned community, Summerwood. Another development, Kingwood Parc City Center will include retail, restaurants, a movie theater, and office space. Other development in the Kingwood area includes a $71 million addition to the Kingwood Medical Center. The new tower will specialize in services for women and infants. Read the court decision
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ASCE Statement on Passing of Senator Dianne Feinstein

October 02, 2023 — Maria Lehman, President – American Society of Civil Engineers
RESTON, Va. – ASCE joins Capitol Hill and the infrastructure community in mourning the loss of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). At 90 years old, Sen. Feinstein was the longest-tenured female senator in U.S. politics and an immensely influential voice in the U.S. Senate and her home state of California. A true pioneer in U.S. politics, Sen. Feinstein was the first female mayor of San Francisco and one of the first women elected to the U.S. Senate from California. During her three decades in the Senate, Sen. Feinstein was a staunch advocate for issues impacting the engineering profession and strongly supported the recent passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Sen. Feinstein was a champion for legislation to mitigate the impacts of climate change, a strong supporter of bills to improve drinking water for disadvantaged communities, and, in recent years, served as ASCE's key champion for both the reauthorization of the National Dam Safety Program and the 21st Century Dams Act. Sen. Feinstein consistently sought middle ground on issues that were pertinent to all Americans, a rare and admirable trait in our increasingly divisive political climate. ASCE will remember Sen. Feinstein for all that she accomplished on behalf of our nation's infrastructure, and we look forward to continuing her fight to ensure our infrastructure systems can withstand the impacts of increasingly severe weather events. Our deepest sympathies go out to her family. ABOUT THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 150,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE works to raise awareness of the need to maintain and modernize the nation's infrastructure using sustainable and resilient practices, advocates for increasing and optimizing investment in infrastructure, and improve engineering knowledge and competency. For more information, visit www.asce.org or www.infrastructurereportcard.org and follow us on Twitter, @ASCETweets and @ASCEGovRel. Read the court decision
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