Seattle Washington Building Expert Directory

What ENR.com Construction News Gained the Most Views

January 09, 2023 — C.J. Schexnayder - Engineering News-Record
As the construction industry continued its ongoing recovery from the global pandemic in 2022, it also faced a number of formidable challenges—including staffing gaps, materials shortages, supply chain delays and the ongoing specter of inflation. Throughout the year, ENR editors reported on how these issues—and many more—were impacting the sector and how it responded. Reprinted courtesy of C.J. Schexnayder, Engineering News-Record Mr. Schexnayder may be contacted at schexnayderc@enr.com Read the full story... Read the court decision
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Southern California Super Lawyers Recognizes Four Snell & Wilmer Attorneys As Rising Stars

July 15, 2019 — Snell & Wilmer
Snell & Wilmer is pleased to announce that four attorneys in the Orange County and Los Angeles offices have been selected for inclusion in the 2019 Southern California Rising Stars list. Steffi Gascón Hafen, Estate Planning and Probate Hafen is a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, California Board of Legal Specialization. Her practice is concentrated in tax, trust, and estate matters with emphasis in estate planning, trust and probate administration, and estate and gift taxation. Irina Ling, Tax Ling's practice is concentrated in estate planning and taxation matters. She has experience assisting clients with all aspects of estate and tax planning, including advising clients on various charitable giving devices and business succession. Irina also assists clients with estate and gift tax issues, property tax issues, and probate and trust administration. Joshua Schneiderman, Mergers and Acquisitions Schneiderman advises clients on a wide range of transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and public and private offerings of debt and equity securities. He advises clients on matters related to franchising, including the establishment of new franchise systems and the expansion of existing franchise systems nationally and internationally. Jeffrey Singletary, Business Litigation Singletary concentrates his practice on business litigation in state and federal courts. He represents clients in matters involving breach of contract, business competition torts, real estate, public and private construction projects, and various intellectual property litigation matters, including trademark, trade dress, trade secret and patent claims. Read the court decision
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Be Wary of Construction Defects when Joining a Community Association

February 07, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
There are some benefits to living in small developments with correspondingly small community association. Marilyn Briscoe told the Chicago Tribune that in her 34-unit town home association, "people kind of look out for each other here." But the article also cautions to not only meet the other owners, but that you should "know the developer" and "be leery if you discover litigation for construction defects." Ryan Shpritz, an association attorney said that "you don't want to start out your new association by spending money on lawyer fees or repairing defects." Whether the development is large or small, "having construction defect litigation going on will have an impact on salability." Read the court decision
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Remediation Work Caused by Installation of Defective Tiles Not Covered

August 19, 2015 — Tred R. Eyerly – Insurance Law Hawaii
The federal district court applied California law to find there was no coverage when the subcontractor was sued for broken tiles on a project. Am. Home Assur. Co. v. SMG Stone Co., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75910 (N. D. Cal. June 11, 2015). The subcontractor installed stone floor tiles at the project. The developer discovered fractures in some of the tiles. The fractured tiles were removed and replaced. This remediation process required the removal and replacement of portions of drywall and concrete subfloor installed by other subcontractors. The developer sued the subcontractor, who tendered the defense to its insurer. The insurer denied coverage and filed for a declaratory judgment that there was no coverage for the floor tile fracture claims. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Insurance Law Hawaii
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

Unfair Risk Allocation on Design-Build Projects

June 13, 2022 — Brian Perlberg, Executive Director of ConsensusDocs Coalition & AGC Senior Counsel
The AGC annual convention included a session entitled “Who’s on the Hook for Design Defects in Design-Build Projects.” Fox Rothschild’s Dirk Haire, Les Synder of Infrastructure Construction Brightline West, and David Hecker of Kiewit presented. Attendees crowded into a standing-only room because more and more builders are facing design liability, especially design-builders on large infrastructure projects. The presentation highlighted how some owners abuse the submittal process on design-build jobs to make changes without compensating the builder with more time, money, or both. One project took a sample of owner comments and extrapolated that just one project generated over 15,000 submittals and generated over 110,000 comments of “concern” or “preference.” Certain owner-representatives and attorneys for owners have oversold the risk allocation transfer aspect of design-build. The Spearin Doctrine protects a builder from design documents containing errors by entitling them to receive equitable compensation. The design-build project delivery method erodes potential Spearin protections. Ways that an owner may retain some design responsibility and bring Spearin protections back into play for a builder include the following:

Accuracy of reports prepared by owner’s outside consultants

Owner’s design approval process
Viability of owner’s stated design and project criteria

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Reprinted courtesy of Brian Perlberg, ConsensusDocs

Colorado Introduces Construction Defect Bill for Commuter Communities

January 23, 2013 — CDJ STAFF
A Colorado State Senator has introduced a bill suggesting a change to the way that construction defect claims are handled in "transit-oriented developments." And what are these? According to the bill these are "any multi-family residential or mixed-use project within one-half mile of any commuter rail stop, commuter light rail stop, or commuter bus stop." So the bill would treat homes with good public transportation differently from those not so convenient to public transportation. The bill, SB 52, would institute a right to repair for construction defects in these developments. Construction defect claims would be referred to binding arbitration. Further, construction professionals could not be sued for environmental conditions related to transit, commercial, public, or retail use. Read the court decision
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Contract Void Ab Initio: Key Insights into the KBR vs. Corps of Engineers Affirmative Defense

February 12, 2024 — Matthew DeVries - Best Practices Construction Law
In a recent Board decision dated December 13, 2023, the United States Army Corps of Engineers sought to amend its answer in the case of APPEALS OF – KELLOGG BROWN & ROOT SERVICES, INC., under Contract No. W912GB-13-C-0011. The proposed amendment introduces an affirmative defense, contending that Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. (KBR) made material misrepresentations in its proposal, rendering the fully-performed contract void ab initio. Background: The contract in question, executed on July 9, 2013, was for the construction of an Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System site in Deveselu, Romania, with a firm, fixed-price amount of $134,211,592. The Corps moved to amend its answer to allege that KBR’s material misrepresentations induced the Corps to enter the contract, justifying the voiding of the contract. The alleged misrepresentations include issues related to subcontractor quotes, firm fixed prices, subcontracting plans, and more. Motion to Amend and Legal Defense: The Corps, despite delays in formally amending its answer, argued that KBR was aware of the potential affirmative defense before the conclusion of fact discovery. The proposed affirmative defense asserts that KBR made eight material misrepresentations in its proposal, upon which the Corps relied in awarding the contract and defending against a GAO protest. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Matthew DeVries, Burr & Forman LLP
Mr. DeVries may be contacted at mdevries@burr.com

Federal Government Partial Shutdown – Picking Up the Pieces

February 27, 2019 — Jacob W. Scott -
Now that the partial shutdown has ended (though with the specter of another just around the corner), contractors are asking, “What now?” and “What did that cost me?” Although every case is fact-specific, following are some guidelines for moving forward after the shutdown. Following up on our previous guidance, contractors should make sure that any court, board, or agency filings made during the shutdown were received and properly docketed. If there is any question whether a filing was received, file it again as soon as possible with proof of the earlier attempt to file. The busiest tribunals, such as the federal courts, the Court of Federal Claims, the Boards of Contract Appeals, and the Government Accountability Office, remained open, or at least open to accept filings, and all indications are that filings made during the shutdown were received and acknowledged. But for some of the other tribunals or agencies, such as the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) Office of Hearings and Appeals and the SBA Office of Government Contracting and Business Development, prudence dictates double-checking that all filings were received. In many cases, non-statutory deadlines have been or will be adjusted by the court, board, or agency. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Jacob W. Scott, Smith Currie
Mr. Scott may be contacted at jwscott@smithcurrie.com

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