Fairfield Connecticut Building Expert Directory

Mississippi River Spends 40 Days At Flood Stage, Mayors Push for Infrastructure Funding

June 18, 2019 — Jeff Yoders - Engineering News-Record
As record flooding continues across the Midwest, the region’s mayors and the Army Corps of Engineers are looking for solutions to mitigate future floods. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Jeff Yoders, ENR
Mr. Yoders may be contacted at yodersj@enr.com

Trump Soho May Abandon Condos to Operate Mainly as Hotel

January 28, 2015 — Nadja Brandt – Bloomberg
Lower Manhattan’s Trump Soho, the five-year-old tower that was seized in a foreclosure amid slow sales of its condominiums, may drop its focus on part-time residences and operate most of the property solely as a hotel. The building’s new owner, Los Angeles-based CIM Group, is “stepping away” from marketing the roughly two-thirds of condos that remain unsold, said Gary Schweikert, the building’s managing director. The company is considering converting the unsold units at the tower permanently into hotel rooms, he said. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Nadja Brandt, Bloomberg
Ms. Brandt may be contacted at nbrandt@bloomberg.net

Construction Litigation Roundup: “I Never Had a Chance”

May 29, 2023 — Daniel Lund III - Lexology
“I never had a chance.” Such was the plea of a general contractor to a Maryland federal court after having been terminated for failure to perform. “The Agreement provides no express right to cure,” found the court, weighing in on the contractor’s wrongful termination claim. Indeed, the contract was also very clear on termination, allowing for termination for cause on numerous bases, including a common catchall: if the contractor “persistently fails to perform the provisions of this Agreement.” In advance of the actual date of termination, the owner wrote to the contractor, in accordance with the contract: “Notice is also given that seven days from the date of this correspondence, [owner] will exercise its [termination] rights under Section 13.2.2.2 of the Contract." The communication from the owner contained no discussion of allowing the contractor an opportunity to cure its alleged default. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Daniel Lund III, Phelps
Mr. Lund may be contacted at daniel.lund@phelps.com

Subcontractor Entitled to Defense for Defective Work Causing Property Damage Beyond Its Scope of Work

May 27, 2019 — Tred R. Eyerly - Insurance Law Hawaii
The Illinois Court of Appeals found the subcontractor was owed a defense for alleged property damage caused by its faulty workmanship, but outside its scope of work. Acuity Ins. Co. v. 950 W. Huron Condo. Ass'n, 2019 Ill. App. LEXIS 208 (Ill. Ct. App. March 29, 2019). The condominium association sued its general contractor, Belgravia, for alleged defects allowing water to infiltrate and cause damage. Belgravia filed a third-party complaint against its subcontractors, including the carpentry subcontractor Denk & Roche. Denk & Roche held a CGL policy with two insurers during the relevant period, one with Cincinnati Insurance Company for the period January 1, 2000 through June 1, 2007, and another with Acuity Insurance Company, effective June 1, 2007, through December 31, 2013. Denk & Roche tendered its defense to both insurers. Cincinnati agreed to defend and contributed to a settlement of the AOAO's claims. Acuity denied a defense, contending that the underlying claims did not trigger a duty to defend. Acuity's declaratory judgment suit sought a determination that it had no duty to defend. Cincinnati intervened and argued it was entitled to equitable contribution from Acuity. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Tred R. Eyerly, Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert
Mr. Eyerly may be contacted at te@hawaiilawyer.com

NY Project Produces America's First Utility Scale Wind Power

December 23, 2023 — Debra K. Rubin - Engineering News-Record
Despite financial gyrations in the U.S. offshore wind energy market that have caused project delays and cancellations over the past two years, America now has joined other world nations in having energy generated for the first time from a utility-scale facility. Reprinted courtesy of Debra K. Rubin, Engineering News-Record Ms. Rubin may be contacted at rubind@enr.com Read the full story... Read the court decision
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Construction Client Advisory: The Power of the Bonded Stop Notice Extends to Expended Construction Funds

February 07, 2014 — Steven M. Cvitanovic - Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP
CFO to CEO: “I have bad news, the developer on our biggest project has run out of money.” Frightening words for sure, but contractors should not overlook the bonded stop notice in situations where the construction lender seemingly has expended all construction funds. The recent case of Brewer Corporation v. Point Center Financial, Inc. 2014 WL 346636 illustrates this point. Contractors have two options at their disposal to secure payment on private works of improvement. The first is the mechanics lien. However, construction loan trust deeds are normally recorded prior to the commencement of construction and therefore have priority over mechanics liens. Connolly Development, Inc. v. Superior Court (1976) 17 Cal.3d 803, 827. Enter the bonded stop notice. The bonded stop notice requires the lender to withhold unexpended funds and, if it fails to do so, it is personally liable to the claimant for the full amount of the claim. But the stop notice also has the power of “priority” over any assignment of construction loan funds, whether before or after a stop notice is served. Civil Code § 3166, now Civil Code § 8544. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Steven M. Cvitanovic, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP
Mr. Cvitanovic may be contacted at scvitanovic@hbblaw.com

State And Local Bid Protests: Sunk Costs and the Meaning of a “Win”

July 11, 2022 — Amy Anderson - ConsensusDocs
Across the United States, state and local agencies often use competitive bidding to award contracts for various types of work. Generally speaking, a bid protest is when an unsuccessful bidder challenges the award by the state or local agency to another competitive bidder. Procurement at this level is entirely distinct from federal procurement. The details of any bid protest will be specific to the locality. However, a question that very often comes up when a state or local agency uses competitive bidding: what happens when I lose the bid? More specifically, if I should not have lost because my bid was the lowest or best value, can I make the state or local agency award the bid to me? Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Amy Anderson, Jones Walker LLP (ConsensusDocs)
Ms. Anderson may be contacted at aanderson@joneswalker.com

10 Answers to Those Nagging Mechanics Lien Questions Keeping You Up at Night. Kind of

November 05, 2014 — Garret Murai - California Construction Law Blog
Construction lawyers may not ponder the great questions in life. We leave that to the estate planning attorneys. But ponder we do. And the next case, as I’ll explain below, “kind of” answers 10 important mechanics lien questions we construction attorneys toss and turn over at night. Background In Palomar Grading & Paving, Inc. v. Wells Fargo Bank, Case Nos. G049907 and G049910 (October 14, 2014), developer Inland-LGC Beaumont, LLC (“Inland”) hired general contractor 361 Group Construction Services, Inc. (“361″) to construct a Kohl’s department store in Beaumont, California. The Kohl’s department store was to be constructed on one parcel of a three-parcel tract. Inland later sold the parcel on which the Kohl’s department store was to be located to Kohl’s and the two other parcels were later acquired by Wells Fargo who foreclosed on the construction loan for the project. Read the court decision
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Reprinted courtesy of Garret Murai, Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard
Mr. Murai may be contacted at gmurai@kmtg.com

FAIRFIELD CONNECTICUT BUILDING EXPERT DIRECTORY AND CAPABILITIES