Seattle Washington Building Expert Directory

My Construction Law Wish List

December 31, 2014 — Garret Murai – California Construction Law Blog
I’ve been good this year. Not great mind you, but good, and good is the standard, right? So, here’s my construction law wish list this holiday season: 1.More Transparency. So much uncertainty and resultant litigation exists for the simple reason that contractors and subs don’t know when a higher tiered contractor or owner (on a lender financed project) has been paid for their work. So how about a requirement that owners, contractors and subcontractors of all tiers be required to disclose when payment applications are submitted, when payments are made and in what amount, and what pay applications have been paid. And because I’m pretty sure I’m at least within the 20th percentile of “good” this year how about a requirement that this information be provided through an online database accessible by all persons working on projects valued at over a certain dollar amount, say $500,000. 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

Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (3/6/24) – Steep Drop in Commercial Real Estate Investment, Autonomous Robots Being Developed for Construction Projects, and Treasury Department Proposes Regulation for Real Estate Professionals

April 08, 2024 — Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
In our latest roundup, major league sports franchises turn to real estate to increase their value, the Associated Builders and Contractors releases a guide on artificial intelligence, New York City helps landlords convert empty office space into housing, and more!

The Treasury Department proposed a regulation that would require real estate professionals to report information to the agency about all-cash sales of residential real estate to legal entities, trusts and shell companies. (Fatima Hussein, AP)
For decades, major league teams depended on ticket sales, concessions and TV deals to generate revenue, but team owners in recent years have turned to real estate development to bring in extra cash and drive up the values of their franchises. (Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN)
The U.S. commercial real estate market saw a steep drop in investment last year, with the market plummeting by more than 50% to the lowest level since 2012 and CBRE noting a 91% year-over-year drop in direct real estate company investments. (Yuheng Zhan, Business Insider)

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Reprinted courtesy of Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team

NYC Airports Get $500,000 Makeover Contest From Cuomo

October 22, 2014 — Freeman Klopott and Allyson Versprille – Bloomberg
Governor Andrew Cuomo is holding a competition for plans to upgrade New York City’s two airports, which consistently rank as the worst in the U.S. for design, cleanliness and delays. Cuomo announced the $500,000 design contest for John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports at a press briefing in Queens with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who in February caused a stir when he likened LaGuardia to a facility in a third-world country. “This is the next phase for New York,” Cuomo said today at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology in Flushing, home of LaGuardia. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airports, is allocating $8 billion to construction at the two facilities and Newark-Liberty International over the next 10 years. That includes $2.2 billion as part of a $3.6 billion redesign of LaGuardia’s 50-year-old central terminal, voted America’s dirtiest and most poorly designed by readers of Travel & Leisure magazine in 2012. Mr. Klopott may be contacted at fklopott@bloomberg.net; Ms. Versprille may be contacted at aversprille1@bloomberg.net Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Freeman Klopott and Allyson Versprille, Bloomberg

UK Court Rules Against Bechtel in High-Speed Rail Contract Dispute

March 29, 2021 — Peter Reina - Engineering News-Record
The U.K. subsidiary of Bechtel Inc. has lost its legal challenge against the owner of the U.K. London-Birmingham high-speed railroad project, HS2, over its failed bid for a roughly $140-million Construction Partner (CP) contract in early 2019. Reprinted courtesy of Peter Reina, Engineering News-Record Mr. Reina may be contacted at reina@btinternet.com Read the full story... Read the court decision
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Federal District Court Declines Invitation to Set Scope of Appraisal

January 18, 2021 — James M. Eastham - Traub Lieberman
In Mt. Hawley Ins. Co. v. Harrods Eastbelt, Ltd., No. CV H-20-2405, 2020 WL 7632250 (S.D. Tex. Dec. 22, 2020), the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas addressed a request to set the scope of an appraisal by requiring the appraisers to use a specific format for the appraisal. At issue was a claim for damages to three insured buildings allegedly damaged during Tropical Storm Imelda. The insurer had denied coverage based on the asserted lack of wind-created openings as required for coverage under the policy. Rather, the insurer took the position that the interior leaks were caused by a number of excluded causes including long-term weathering, wear and tear, age-related deterioration, ponding, and long-term leaks. In response to the denial of coverage, the insured invoked the appraisal provision of the policy which provided, among other things, that the “appraisers will state separately the value of the property and amount of loss.” Despite the language of the appraisal provision, the Insurer sought an order requiring the appraisers to state the amount of loss separately for each portion of the property in dispute and for each major building component including separate amounts of loss for roofs, exterior walls, windows, and interior water damage. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of James M. Eastham, Traub Lieberman
Mr. Eastham may be contacted at jeastham@tlsslaw.com

Payment Bond Claim Notice Requires More than Mailing

August 04, 2015 — Christopher G. Hill – Construction Law Musings
It’s been a while since I posted something new relating to Virginia’s “Little Miller Act” and its various notice requirements for a subcontractor to make a payment bond claim. I have posted on the basics of a Virginia payment bond claim previously here at Musings. One of these basics is the 90 day notice requirement for suppliers or second tier subcontractors with no direct contractual relationship to the general contractor. A recent case from the Norfolk, Virginia Circuit Court examined when notice is “given” under the Little Miller Act. In R T Atkinson Building Corp v Archer Western Construction, LLC the Court looked at the question of whether mailing of the notice of claim is enough to constitute notice being “given” in a manner that would satisfy the statutory requirements. In that case, the supplier mailed the notice within the 90 day window, but the defendant argued on summary judgment that it did not receive the notice until 2 days after the 90 day window had closed. In support of this contention, the defendant provided tracking information showing delivery by the USPS on the non-compliant date. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Christopher G. Hill, Law Office of Christopher G. Hill, PC
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

Long-Planned Miami Mega Mixed-Use Development Nears Initial Debut

September 25, 2018 — Jim Parsons - Engineering News-Record
Economic crises, lawsuits and other complications have thrown multiple wrenches into plans for downtown Miami’s massive Worldcenter mixed-use project over the past 12 years. But to hear the master development group’s managing principal Nitin Motwani tell it, the timing for the $2-billion “city within a city” to finally come to fruition couldn’t be better. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Jim Parsons, ENR
ENR may be contacted at ENR.com@bnpmedia.com

How to Cool Down Parks in Hot Cities

July 08, 2024 — Todd Woody - Bloomberg
The drive to be outside, even in hot weather, is hard to overcome. People without air conditioning would be more likely to seek relief at their local park, according to Elie Bou-Zeid, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton, than at a government building where they can feel like climate refugees. “It’ll certainly be more pleasant to be in a park than in some indoor stadium where nobody wants to go,” he says. The scientists are combining inexpensive technologies, some novel, some already in use, that they plan to test first in New Jersey for deployment in hot spots like Phoenix. Kirigami The art of cutting and folding paper, kirigami is inspiring researchers to design structures that control wind in specific ways. A kirigami structure made from fabric and placed over misters could regulate wind speed to maximize cooling. Or it could form the roof of a pavilion, steering air into the structure. Misters They spray small water droplets that quickly evaporate, cooling the air. But the effectiveness of misters, which have long been used in cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix, depends on wind speed. If there’s too little wind, the droplets won’t all evaporate; too much wind and the cooling effects dissipate. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Todd Woody, Bloomberg

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