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DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES

Don’t Kick the Claim Until the End of the Project: Timely Give Notice and Preserve Your Claims on Construction Projects

December 10, 2015 — Christopher G. Hill – Construction Law Musings
For this week’s Guest Post Friday, we welcome Tara L. Chadbourn. Tara is an attorney with ReavesColey PLLC in Chesapeake, VA, where she concentrates her practice on construction law, litigation and commercial litigation. Tara counsels owners, contractors, subcontractors and materials suppliers in various government and commercial construction matters. Tara can be reached at tara.chadbourn@reavescoley.com. You may have experienced and have certainly heard of the scenario in which a contractor waits to address a claim as part of project closeout, only to realize the applicable deadline has already passed. While there may have been discussions about claims during the course of the project, contractors cannot rely upon oral conversations about outstanding claims. Instead, contractors must be vigilant in satisfying notice requirements and preserving claims. While entitlement must still be proven, a contractor’s chances of recovery increase greatly if the contractor abides by notice requirements and consciously preserves claims in the following ways. Contractors Must Acquaint Themselves with Contractual Notice Provisions: Many prime and subcontract agreements contain stringent notice provisions that require the contractor to give notice within a certain time period or else the claim is expressly waived. The deadline for notice is often only a few days after the occurrence giving rise to the claim or the contractor becoming aware of the claim. To avoid waiver, contractors must carefully review their contracts for provisions requiring notice of a claims for adjustment for a variety of situations to include unforeseen site conditions, trade sequencing changes, project delay or scope of work changes. 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

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Philadelphia Proposed Best Value Procurement Bill

December 08, 2016 — Wally Zimolong – Supplemental Conditions
An opinion piece in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer concerning proposed legislation that would change the way the City of Philadelphia awards public construction projects is causing quite a stir. The article concerns legislation that would allow the City to award public construction contracts based on a “best value” approach rather than the current requirement that the contract be awarded to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder. The author worries that by removing the current objective criteria and replacing it with subjective ones, contracts can be steered to politically favored contractors. The author cites the recent no-bid contract awarded to a law firm run by the friend of Mayor Jim Kenney as an example of the chaos would ensue if this bill was passed. Considering that the Bill’s sponsor, Bobby Hennon, is under FBI investigation, and some of the Mayor’s biggest supporters are as well, the author has ever right to be concerned. However, article comes up short in explaining what the Bill says and what best value procurement, if adopted, would mean for public construction work in Philadelphia. First, the Bill that Councilman Hennon is proposing is actually a Bill that would make the best value procurement question a ballot question next November. In other words, the Bill, if passed, would but to a City wide vote the question of whether the City should change it procurement practices to permit the best value approach to be used in addition to the low bid approach that is current used. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Wally Zimolong, Zimolong LLC
Mr. Zimolong may be contacted at wally@zimolonglaw.com

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EPC Contractors Procuring from Foreign Companies need to Reconsider their Contracts

July 18, 2018 — Hwan Kim – Construction & Infrastructure Law Blog
A recent California case may force engineering, procurement and construction companies doing business with foreign suppliers to reconsider—and maybe rewrite—their contracts. In Rockefeller Technology Investments (Asia) VII v. Changzhou SinoType Technology Co., Ltd., the California Court of Appeal held that parties may not contract around the formal service requirements of the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents, commonly referred to as the Hague Service Convention. The decision could have profound implications for international business. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Hwan Kim, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Mr. Kim may be contacted at hkim@sheppardmullin.com

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The Unthinkable Has Happened. How Should Contractors Respond?

May 11, 2020 — Bruce Orr - AEC Business
Any construction veteran expects the economy to contract and expand. However, the global pandemic presents contractors with a challenge unlike any in recent memory. How should they respond in an environment of such uncertainty? For some perspective, I chatted with Dr. John Killingsworth, a construction management professor at Colorado State University who has conducted extensive research on how contractors can weather economic downturns. BRUCE ORR: John, let’s say you’re in IT or are a c-suite executive at a contracting firm. This event has occurred. What are some of the questions you should be asking right now? JOHN KILLINGSWORTH: For starters, we have to acknowledge that the uncertainties are so tremendous that many contractors have no choice but to be reactive in the short term. They’re literally not sure whether particular job sites will be open or closed tomorrow or whether they’ll go to work next week. They’re also looking at predictions—from highly qualified statisticians, public health officials and others—that are just all over the map due to the limited nature of the data we have at hand. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Bruce Orr, AEC Business
Mr. Orr may be contacted at bruce@pronovos.com

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The “Up” House is “Up” for Sale

May 07, 2015 — Garret Murai – California Construction Law Blog
You might remember the 2009 Pixar/Disney 3-D animated movie “Up,” about an aging widower, Carl Frederickson, who learns to let go of his past and live his dream of moving he and his beloved late wife’s “clubhouse” to a cliff overlooking Paradise Falls in Venezuela where the once young couple’s hero, Charles Muntz, a famous but now disgraced explorer, was said to have discovered the skeleton of a rare bird which skeptics alleged was fabricated. In the movie, the “clubhouse” is integral to the plot. In the opening scenes of the movie the audience learns that the clubhouse, which had been Mr. Frederickson’s deceased wife’s clubhouse that the couple later turned into their home, is sitting in the middle of a construction zone because old Mr. Frederickson has refused to sell his house to a developer who has proceeded to build around his house anyway. When a large loader knocks over his mailbox and a construction worker tries to fix it, Mr. Frederickson struggles with the worker not wanting him to touch any of his memories, and in the process inadvertently strikes the man with his cane. Later, in court, Mr. Frederickson learns that he has to leave the house and go to a retirement home. Apparently, justice is quick and decisive in their town. However, instead of going to a retirement home peaceably, codgy Mr. Frederickson rigs the clubhouse with thousands of balloons and proceeds to fly away, home and all. And, so the movie begins. Soon, however, what some have called the real life “Up house” will be sold. And the story behind the house is about as a interesting as its movie counterpart. And, because we lawyers are into disclosures, I will disclose that “counterpart” is more accurate than “adaption,” since the movie Up was in production before the events giving rise to the real life Up house took place. 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

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Contractor’s Unwritten Contractual Claim Denied by Sovereign Immunity; Mandamus Does Not Help

September 22, 2016 — David R. Cook Jr. – AHHC Construction Law Blog
In a very well-reasoned opinion, the Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the denial of a contractor’s unwritten-contract claim against a county based on sovereign immunity. Based on an alleged oral contract, Contractor built a sewer pumping station for the County in exchange for an interest in the station’s pumping capacity. When the County denied Contractor’s demand for an interest, he filed suit. As noted in many prior posts, the Georgia constitution reaffirms sovereign immunity of the state – which the courts interpret to include counties. One common exception in the public works area is the Constitution’s “ex contractu clause,” which waives sovereign immunity for claims based on written contracts. Of course, a precondition to the waiver of sovereign immunity is the existence of a written contract – which Contractor did not have. Applying these rules, the court affirmed the denial of Contractor’s claims based on contract and quasi contract. In the absence of a written contract, there can be no contractual claim against the County. The same rule applies for quasi-contractual claims. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of David R. Cook, Autry, Hanrahan, Hall & Cook, LLP
Mr. Cook may be contacted at cook@ahclaw.com

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Construction Defects could become Issue in Governor’s Race

October 22, 2014 — Jesse Howard Witt – Acerbic Witt
According to today’s Denver Business Journal, construction defects have emerged as a potential issue in Colorado’s gubernatorial race. During last night’s debate, Republican challenger Bob Beauprez criticized incumbent Democrat John Hickenlooper for failing to help senators with a last-minute push to enact a bill stripping away homeowner protections in construction disputes. Republicans had argued that the bill was needed to appease apartment developers who claim that quality control and insurance costs are too high on condominium projects. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Jesse Howard Witt, The Witt Law Firm
Mr. Witt welcomes comments at www.wittlawfirm.net

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Ben L. Aderholt Joins Coats Rose Construction Litigation Group

February 25, 2014 — Beverley BevenFlorez-CDJ STAFF
According to a press release on PR Newswire, “Ben Aderholt has joined Coats Rose law firm's Houston office as Of Counsel.” Aderholt was a “past President of the Houston Bar Association, past Chair of the Mayor's Council and a Director of the State Bar of Texas.” Furthermore, he “has taught commercial law at the University of Houston” and “continues to be active on the Editorial Board of the Construction Law Journal.” Coats Rose has offices in Houston, Clear Lake, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and New Orleans. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of

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