Brown and Caldwell Appoints Stigers as Design Chief Engineer
December 13, 2022 —
Brown and CaldwellWALNUT CREEK, Calif., Dec. 06, 2022 — Brown and Caldwell today announces Vice President Tracy Stigers has been appointed as design chief engineer in recognition of four decades of exceptional technical leadership and client service. She is the first woman in the firm's 75-year history to hold the esteemed title.
Stigers will lead all design from a technical and delivery expertise perspective across all of Brown and Caldwell's design initiatives, implementing innovation, quality control, and project delivery throughout North America and the Pacific.
Since joining the leading environmental engineering and construction services firm in 1980, Stigers has progressed from junior engineer to one of its top technical and delivery experts. She has vast experience in the design and construction of large-scale wastewater conveyance, treatment, and reuse facilities, including serving as project manager on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's $2.3 billion Biosolids Digester Facilities Project, the largest value design job in Brown and Caldwell's history.
Early in her career, Stigers worked alongside and was mentored by company co-founder Dave Caldwell, helping shape its tradition of solving the most challenging water and environmental challenges. Her dedication to upholding Brown and Caldwell's reputation for project excellence and innovation was commended by CEO Rich D'Amato:
"Tracy is the epitome of quality, commitment, and technical prowess," he said. "Her leadership, knowledge, and legacy of delivering solutions to clients perfectly embody our heritage and is a shining example for tomorrow's aspiring engineering leaders."
Throughout her career, Stigers has held numerous leadership roles at industry organizations, including sitting on the board of trustees for the Water Environment Federation and the California Water Environment Association. She is a current member of the Clarkson University Engineering Advisory Council.
About Brown and Caldwell
Headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, Brown and Caldwell is a full-service environmental engineering and construction services firm with 52 offices and 1,800 professionals across North America and the Pacific. For 75 years, our creative solutions have helped municipalities, private industry, and government agencies successfully overcome their most challenging water and environmental obstacles. As an employee-owned company, Brown and Caldwell is passionate about exceeding our clients' expectations and making a difference for our employees, our communities, and our environment. For more information, visit www.brownandcaldwell.com
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AI Systems and the Real Estate Industry
April 03, 2023 —
Robert G. Howard & Craig A. de Ridder - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law BlogArtificial intelligence (AI) systems captured considerable attention with the release of a large language chatbot, ChatGPT, by OpenAI, in November of last year. On March 14, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4, a more powerful “multimodal” chatbot responding to both text and images. And, on March 21, Google launched its conversational computer program, Bard, to compete with GPT-4. These chatbots allow users to initiate detailed queries or requests and receive prompt responses in complete sentences. Users are not forced to scroll through a list of results like those produced by search engines and follow-up questions can be asked.
AI systems have been touted for many years and these new breakthroughs may drastically change the way that we create content.
Notwithstanding their unprecedented capabilities, AI systems can produce imperfect results. New chatbots, for example, can generate plausible-sounding but nonsensical, biased or false responses. Accordingly, heavy fact-checking is necessary. OpenAI has warned that ChatGPT is prone to filling in replies with incorrect data if there is not enough information available on the topic on the internet. Bard includes a website disclaimer that it “may display inaccurate or offensive information that doesn’t represent Google’s views.” On March 20, a breach at OpenAI allowed users to see other people’s chat histories before the service was shut down. Further, there is a real risk that courts will rule that certain content generated by these systems infringes the copyright or database rights of the owner of the materials and data that the technologies relied on. When entering into agreements with AI software providers, companies should also be concerned about
other risks, including misappropriation of data, security, confidentiality, privacy and third-party claims.
Reprinted courtesy of
Robert G. Howard, Pillsbury and
Craig A. de Ridder, Pillsbury
Mr. Howard may be contacted at robert.howard@pillsburylaw.com
Mr. de Ridder may be contacted at craig.deridder@pillsburylaw.com
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Alaska District Court Sets Aside Rulings Under New Administration’s EO 13795
May 06, 2019 —
Anthony B. Cavender - Gravel2GavelOn March 29, the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska issued two separate rulings that reversed and set aside energy and environmental decisions made by the current administration, which had revoked decisions made in these same matters by the prior administration. The cases are League of Conservation Voters, et al., v. Trump (concerning the development of oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)) and Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges, et al., v. Bernhardt, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior (which concerns a Land Exchange that would facilitate the construction of a road between two remote Alaska communities when that road would traverse parts of a designated national wilderness).
In the League of Conservation Voters matter, the District Court held that the President’s Executive Order 13795 (released on April 28, 2017), which purported to revoke President Obama’s decisions to withdraw certain OCS tracts from oil and gas exploration and development, was unlawful because it was not authorized by Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). In 2015 and 2016, President Obama issued Presidential Memorandums and an Executive Order withdrawing these particular tracts.
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Anthony B. Cavender, PillsburyMr. Cavender may be contacted at
anthony.cavender@pillsburylaw.com
OSHA Issues Guidance on Mitigating, Preventing Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace
February 22, 2021 —
Amy R. Patton & Blake A. Dillion - Payne & FearsOn January 29, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued new employer guidance on mitigating and preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. This guidance is intended to help employers and workers outside the healthcare setting to identify risks of being exposed to and of contracting COVID-19 and to determine any appropriate control measures to implement. While this guidance is largely duplicative of prior OSHA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) guidance and recommendations, it contains a few new and updated recommendations that employers should note:
Face Coverings
OSHA recognizes that face coverings, either cloth face coverings or surgical masks, are simple barriers that help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and are beneficial for the wearer as well as others. OSHA recommends that employers should provide all workers with face coverings, unless their work task requires a respirator. These face coverings should be provided at no cost and should be made of at least two layers of tightly woven breathable fabric, and should not have exhalation valves or vents. Employers should also require any other individuals at the workplace (i.e., visitors, customers, non-employees) to wear a face covering unless they are under the age of 2 or are actively consuming food or beverages on site. Wearing a face covering does not eliminate the need for physical distancing of at least six feet apart.
Employers must discuss the possibility of “reasonable accommodations” for any workers who are unable to wear or have difficulty wearing certain types of face coverings due to a disability. In workplaces with employees who are deaf or have hearing deficits, employers should consider acquiring masks with clear coverings over the mouth.
Reprinted courtesy of
Amy R. Patton, Payne & Fears and
Blake A. Dillion, Payne & Fears
Ms. Patton may be contacted at arp@paynefears.com
Mr. Dillion may be contacted at bad@paynefears.com
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No Coverage for Home Damaged by Falling Boulders
March 08, 2021 —
Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law HawaiiThe policy's earth movement exclusion barred coverage for the home damaged by large boulders rolling down from the hillside above. Sullivan v. Nationwide Affinity Ins. Co. of Am., 2021 U.S. App. LEZXIS 628 (10th Cir Jan. 11, 2021).
Plaintiffs' home sustained extensive damage when two or three large builders rolled down a steep hillside and struck the home. The insurer, Nationwide, hired an engineering firm that determined the boulders were not influenced by meteorological conditions such as torrential rain or high winds. The report noted that rockfall hazards existed primarily due to an undercut sandstone outcrop, and evidenced by numerous rocks from rockfall events that scattered Plaintiffs' property.
Based on the report, Nationwide denied coverage under the earth movement exclusion. The exclusion provided Nationwide did "not insure for loss caused directly or indirectly by . . . Earth Movement" and regardless of "whether or not the loss event results in widespread damage or affects a substantial area." The policy further defined "earth movement" to include "landslide . . . or any other earth movement including earth sinking, risking or shifting."
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Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak HastertMr. Eyerly may be contacted at
te@hawaiilawyer.com
Waiver Of Arbitration by Not Submitting Claim to Initial Decision Maker…Really!
August 30, 2021 —
David Adelstein - Florida Construction Legal UpdatesArbitration is a form of dispute resolution that is a creature of contract. If you want an arbitrator to resolve your disputes, you need to ensure there is an arbitration provision in your contract. There are pros and cons to arbitration. One con is you lose the right to appeal. A couple of pros, however, are that your arbitrator(s), which you generally have some control in the selection of, will be versed in the construction industry and it can be a more efficient forum to resolve disputes in the times of COVID. Once you have your scheduling conference with the appointed arbitrator(s), you will be able to agree upon a set final hearing (trial) time and have milestone dates that work backwards from the final hearing date. This is much more efficient than being placed on an unrealistic trial docket or having to deal with the gamesmanship of motions just to be able to get your case at-issue for trial.
However, the right to arbitrate your dispute can be waived. This was the issue in Leder v. Imburgia Construction Services, Inc., 2021 WL 3177338 (Fla. 3d DCA 2021), which I will be the first to tell you the ruling is quite baffling to me. In a nutshell, the contractor, by not complying with the submission of a claim to the Initial Decision Maker was found to have waived the dispute resolution provision in the AIA contract. Not sure this makes sense, but this was the ruling.
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David Adelstein, Kirwin Norris, P.A.Mr. Adelstein may be contacted at
dma@kirwinnorris.com
U.K. Construction Resumes Growth Amid Resurgent Housing Activity
October 07, 2016 —
Scott Hamilton – BloombergThe U.K. construction industry returned to growth in September as a measure of housing activity jumped the most since 2013.
IHS Markit said on Tuesday that its Purchasing Managers Index jumped to 52.3 from 49.2 in August. It was the highest level in six months and ended a three-month run of readings below 50, the threshold that divides expansion from contraction.
The figures add to evidence that the economy is performing better than many predicted following the June decision to leave the European Union. Traders increasingly expect the Bank of England to refrain from adding to its August stimulus package this year.
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Scott Hamilton, Bloomberg
New England Construction Defect Law Groups to Combine
November 13, 2013 —
CDJ STAFFThe lawyers of Little Bulman Medeiros & Whitney PC will be joining Pierce Atwood on December 9, 2013. The combined firm will have a larger construction litigation practice. Little Bulman is already recognized for its handling of construction disputes. Pierce Atwood is one of the largest firms in New England. Their combined forces intended to create a strong presence in construction litigation throughout New England.
Gloria Pinza, a managing partner at Pierce Atwood said of Little Bulman that “their exceptional credentials in the construction law area will combine with our strong construction practice to create a regional practice that will provide highly competitive expertise, depth and value throughout New England and beyond.
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