Columbus Ohio Building Expert Directory

Impasse Over Corruption Charges Costs SNC $3.7 Billion, CEO Says

January 08, 2019 — Frederic Tomesco - Bloomberg
Canada’s failure to reach a negotiated settlement with SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. over past corruption charges has probably cost the company more than C$5 billion ($3.7 billion) in lost revenue and continues to damage its reputation internationally, Chief Executive Officer Neil Bruce said. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Frederic Tomesco, Bloomberg

Can’t Get a Written Change Order? Document, Document, Document

August 29, 2018 — Todd M. Heffner - Smith Currie
Most construction contracts require that any changes to the work be made formally, in writing, via a change order, work directive, or similar written document. Frequently, however, changes to the work or extra work are communicated orally by the architect, engineer, or owner’s representative, instead of in writing. What is the contractor to do in such a situation? The best option is follow the provisions of the contract and demand a written change order before performing changed work. Unfortunately, the realities of construction sometimes make it impossible to get the changes in the proper format in a timely manner. Savvy contractors will maintain schedule and produce written documentation of the change in lieu of a formal change order or directive. But many contractors will simply proceed with the changed work, relying on the owner, architect, or engineer to do the right thing and stand by their oral instructions. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Todd M. Heffner, Smith Currie
Mr. Heffner may be contacted at tmheffner@smithcurrie.com

Mountain States Super Lawyers 2019 Recognizes 21 Nevada Snell & Wilmer Attorneys

June 18, 2019 — Snell & Wilmer
Snell & Wilmer is pleased to announce that 21 attorneys from the Nevada offices have been selected for inclusion in the 2019 Mountain States Super Lawyers publication. Of those 21, 12 were recognized as Mountain States Rising Stars. Patrick Byrne was also named to the Top 100 list of attorneys for the Mountain States region. Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a listing of lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Snell & Wilmer

Las Vegas, Back From the Bust, Revives Dead Projects

June 11, 2014 — Brian Louis – Bloomberg
For almost five years, the desert plot at the western edge of the Las Vegas valley was home to hulking steel skeletons -- ghostly ruins of a construction project halted by the recession. Now the 106-acre (43-hectare) site bustles with hundreds of workers building the first phase of Downtown Summerlin, an office, entertainment and retail complex that’s scheduled to open in October. Howard Hughes Corp. (HHC) revived the development last year after the previous owner, General Growth Properties Inc., shut it down in 2008. The commercial real estate market in Las Vegas, littered with vacant buildings and abandoned construction sites by overreaching developers during the U.S. property crash, is coming back to life as the local economy improves and tourists return to the nation’s gambling capital. Blackstone Group LP’s deal to buy the Cosmopolitan resort and Genting Bhd. (GENT)’s proposed resurrection of an abandoned project on Las Vegas Boulevard are further signs of investor confidence in the nascent recovery. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Brian Louis, Bloomberg
Mr. Louis may be contacted at blouis1@bloomberg.net

Breaking the Impasse by Understanding Blame

January 13, 2020 — Christopher G. Hill - Construction Law Musings
For this week’s Guest Post Friday (on a Thursday) here at Construction Law Musings, Victoria Pynchon (@vickiepynchon) joins us for the 4th time. Victoria is an attorney-mediator with ADR Services, Inc. in Century City; an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association in Los Angeles, California; and, a negotiation consultant and trainer world-wide. Victoria co-founded She Negotiates Training and Consulting in 2010 and writes for ForbesWoman at its She Negotiates blog. She is the author of one of my favorite books on conflict resolution, A is for A*@!#, the Grownups’ ABC’s of Conflict Resolution reviewed at Musings here. First Let’s Talk About Anger Please raise your hand if your clients — corporate clients — are angry about the burdens of litigation. Irritated with the document “demands” and interrogatories. Frustrated about the e-discovery. Ticked off at the way opposing counsel asks them questions as if they’re lying. Hot under the collar about the mounting attorneys’ fees and the distance between the day suit was filed and the probable day on which a trial might eventually be scheduled. Simmering about the time the litigation consumes, time they’d prefer to be spending doing their actual jobs — planning for and implementing business strategies for a profitable future instead of fighting about the unprofitable past. And we’re not even talking about your clients’ anger at the defendant who has stolen their intellectual property or stopped worked at the construction site or refused to release the remaining funds in the construction loan account. And if you believe that powerful people in highly successful and profitable businesses do not fear that litigation might hurt their careers, think again. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill
Mr. Hill may be contacted at chrisghill@constructionlawva.com

Insurer Must Defend and Indemnify Construction Defect Claims Under Iowa Law

February 23, 2017 — Tred R. Eyerly – Insurance Law Hawaii
Applying Iowa law, the federal district court found that the insurer had to defend and indemnify construction defect claims for damage to property caused by the insured's subcontractors. Van Der Weide v. Cincinnati Ins., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4469 (N.D. Iowa Jan. 12, 2017). Van Der Weide contracted with Bouma & Company, Inc. to construct a house in 1996. Before construction began, Bouma purchased a CGL policy and a separate umbrella policy from Cincinnati, which were in effect from January 30, 1996 to January 30, 1999. Bouma used various subcontractors to build the home, including Elkato Masonry, which did the brick veneer and masonry work. The house was completed in February 1998 and Van Der Weide moved in during August 1998. 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

Hurricane Milton Barrels Toward Florida With 180 MPH Winds

October 07, 2024 — Brian K Sullivan & David R Baker - Bloomberg
Milton exploded into the Atlantic’s strongest hurricane this year, bearing down as a catastrophic Category 5 storm on a Florida region still struggling to recover from Helene’s devastation. Milton’s top winds reached 180 miles (290 kilometers) per hour, up from 90 mph just 16 hours earlier, the US National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 5 p.m. New York time. Milton now bests Hurricane Beryl, which raked Texas, Mexico and the Caribbean in July, as the most powerful Atlantic storm this season. With winds this intense, Milton is capable of collapsing homes, flattening trees and triggering power outages that could last weeks to months. It’s difficult for hurricanes to maintain their maximum strength for long, however, so Milton’s winds may drop as it nears Florida’s west coast. Only four Category 5 hurricanes have hit the US mainland, including Michael, which struck Florida’s Panhandle in 2018. Reprinted courtesy of Brian K Sullivan, Bloomberg and David R Baker, Bloomberg Read the court decision
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Confidence Among U.S. Homebuilders Declines to Eight-Month Low

March 19, 2015 — Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- Confidence among U.S. homebuilders unexpectedly fell in March to an eight-month low as prospective buyers were in little rush to shop for properties ahead of the busier spring selling season. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo sentiment gauge dropped to 53 from 55 in February, figures from the Washington-based group showed Monday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for a gain to 56. Sales of single-family homes declined to a five-month low and builder optimism about the outlook failed to improve, the report also showed. Low mortgage rates and job creation may help spur homebuyer interest in coming months. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Bloomberg News
Michelle Jamrisko may be contacted at mjamrisko@bloomberg.net

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