Seattle Washington Building Expert Directory

Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara, LLP is Proud to Announce Jeannette Garcia Has Been Elected as Secretary of the Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County!

February 03, 2020 — Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara LLP
The Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County is an affiliate bar of the OCBA. The OC HBA promotes education, unity, and excellence in the Hispanic legal community by expanding the business and professional opportunities available to its members, enhancing the members’ business and professional stature in the Hispanic community, increasing the participation of Hispanic leaders in civic affairs and enhancing the quality of life for the members and the community. Associate Jeannette Garcia has been a member of the OC HBA since 2012, a board member since 2017 and an executive board member since 2018. Jeannette will now serve as Secretary of the OC HBA for the 2020 term. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara LLP

New Jersey/New York “Occurrence”

July 30, 2014 — Scott Patterson – CD Coverage
In National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, PA v. Turner Construction Co., 986 N.Y.S.2d 74 (N.Y. App. Div. 2014), Turner was the general contractor for a high rise office building constructed in New Jersey for owner GSJC. Turner subcontracted with Permasteelisa for the building’s exterior curtain wall which consisted of granite and glass with an attached network of decorative pipe rails. A segment of the pipe rails fell from the building onto the street. GSJC determined that a significant percentage of the pipe rail connections to the curtain wall did not conform to specifications or were defective. GSJC sued Turner and Permasteelisa in New Jersey state court for breach of contract, breach of warranty, and negligence, seeking damages for the damage to the curtain wall and the danger of additional pipe rail falling in the future. National Union, which had issued an OCIP policy for the project, defended Turner and Permasteelisa under a reservation of rights and then filed a declaratory judgment action in New York state court. The New York trial court entered judgment for National Union. On appeal, the intermediate court of appeals affirmed. As to choice of law, the court stated that “it is undisputed that the law of New Jersey governs this action, which turns on insurance policy interpretation, and that New Jersey and New York law are consistent as to the issues in dispute here.” Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Scott Patterson, CD Coverage

Congratulations to Haight Attorneys Selected to the 2020 Southern California Super Lawyers List

April 27, 2020 — Haight Brown & Bonesteel
Seven Haight attorneys have been selected to the 2020 Southern California Super Lawyers list. Congratulations to:

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Reprinted courtesy of Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP

The Irresistible Urge to Build Cities From Scratch

November 21, 2018 — Monte Reel - Bloomberg
Embedded in the cerebral folds of every city planner who’s ever lived, there’s a cluster of neurons that lights up like Las Vegas when confronted with the possibility of a blank slate. It started with Hippodamus, the man Aristotle claimed was the father of urban planning. When the Persians destroyed his hometown of Miletus, Hippodamus discovered a bright side to catastrophe: The attackers had erased all the regrettable improvisations that, over the centuries, had made a mess of the place. Tasked with rebuilding, he seized his chance to impose order upon chaos. And so the concept of the urban grid was born. Ever since, the dream of carte blanche has proved an all-but-irresistible seduction. Leonardo da Vinci drafted detailed sketches of an “ideal city” after the plague ravaged Milan, and a few hundred years later, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a metropolis that solved the problem of vehicular congestion via a network of helicopter taxis. Every so often, this urge in city planners breaks out into a full-scale epidemic, such as the one that spread throughout Europe and North America in the early 1900s. Known as the “garden city movement,” it aimed to counter the indignities of the Industrial Revolution by creating planned communities with plenty of green space. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Monte Reel, Bloomberg

New York Court Enforces Construction Management Exclusion

March 14, 2018 — Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLP
In its recent decision in Houston Cas. Co. v. Cavan Corp. of NY, Inc., 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1138 (N.Y. 1st Dep’t Feb. 20, 2018), a New York appellate court had occasion to consider the application of a construction management exclusion in a general liability policy. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLP

#7 CDJ Topic: Truck Ins. Exchange v. O'Mailia

December 30, 2015 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
According to attorney Tred R. Eyerly on a post on his Insurance Law Hawaii blog, “The Montana Supreme Court determined there was no coverage for the insured due to a lack of property damage during the policy period.” Eyerly concluded, “Even if exposure to excessively high temperatures created a harmful condition during the policy period, the existence of that condition did not result in property damage to the water heater occurring during the policy period, and thus did not constitute an ‘occurrence’ as defined by the policy.” Read the full story... Read the court decision
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AB5, Dynamex, the ABC Standard, and their Effects on the Construction Industry

December 09, 2019 — Donald A. Velez - Smith Currie
Last year, we reported that the California Supreme Court in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (“Dynamex”) adopted a new, pro-employment standard (the “ABC Standard”), which presumes a worker is an employee versus an independent contractor under California wage orders and regulations. Assembly Bill 5 (“AB5”) has now been passed by the California Legislature and signed by Governor Newsom. Bill AB5 codifies the ABC Standard and brings increased costs, administrative duties, and legal risks for hiring parties on multiple fronts, including, but not limited to:

Payroll taxes;
Meals, breaks and overtime policies and enforcement and premium pay;
Benefits;
Leave and PTO policies, requirements and enforcement;
Wage order violations;
Labor Code violations and Private Attorney General Actions (“PAGA”) claims;
Unemployment insurance; and
Workers’ compensation coverage, claims, and premiums.

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Reprinted courtesy of Donald A. Velez, Smith Currie
Mr. Velez may be contacted at davelez@smithcurrie.com

Manhattan Townhouse Sells for a Record $79.5 Million

April 05, 2017 — Oshrat Carmiel - Bloomberg
A home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side sold for $79.5 million, according to property records made public Wednesday, making it the highest price ever paid for a townhouse in the borough. The 20,500-square-foot (1,905-square-meter) property, at 19 E. 64th St., had been owned by the Wildenstein family, billionaire art dealers whose gallery was located at the site for more than 80 years. The previous record for a Manhattan townhouse was the $53 million paid for 4 E. 75th St., in 2006, according to appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Oshrat Carmiel, Bloomberg
Mr. Carmiel may be followed on Twitter @OshratCarmiel

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